Fight Softly

Favourite Albums of 2010 (87 items)
list by El Paulo

Fight Softly veers from the path set by its predecessor, the 2008 release Sea Lion. Thematically, it's not as wide-eyed or lighthearted, picking apart the relationships faced as we pass through the world with our surroundings, each other, ourselves. Sonically, it remains as beat-centric, though these beats are deliciously artificial stretched and compacted and distorted beyond recognition. Melodies are scuzzy and digital, no guitars strummed or basses plucked. McPhun's soulful upper-register croon, swallowed into the mix, replaces group chants and full-throated singalongs. Rather than an alb