"what could it be / to dark to see / outside the comfort / of your dream..."
The darkly dreamy sonosphere of "Dud Fantasy" by Soft Self Portraits, the musical project of experimentally drawn artist Cody Wade, feels like a slow motion waterfall of melancholia and surreal experiences. The song, from the onset is bathed in a vintage synth organ-esque sound with soft distortions and warbling tones as if it is a Farfisa pumped through a tube amp. I am a sucker for this kind of distressed sound as well as the falling "aaaah", maybe because the aesthetic brings my thoughts to old school artists like 10cc, Alan Parsons Project and even Procol Harum. If you know these old touchstones, the connection to "Dud Fantasy" might feel tenuous but they are their and connections to Beach House and Portishead are tied to them as much as Cody Wade might be consciously (or subconsciously) connected to all of it.
The "Dud Fantasy" atmosphere is not singular and it's emotional key opens a lot of doors, those doors being different for anyone who hears it. One thing that I really like on this track is the way the drums are highlighted (more than in a lot of dream pop tracks). This drives the song in a kind of classic psychedelic rock way more than some and the synth embellishments against the droning vocalizations and ambient sounds just put you in a kind of hallucinogenic head space.
"Dud Fantasy" and "Departures" have been released ahead of a new album "Yarns Spun". Check out the liner notes below.
LINER NOTES (as always, bracketed):
[Soft Self Portraits started as a Louisville, Kentucky-based bedroom pop project consisting of a loop pedal, cassette deck, an 80's synth, and a karaoke mic that ended up in a 6-track demo called Panther's Moon released on Seaspeak Recordings in February 2016. The demo was followed by the debut album, Hold Me Up To The Light, released on Auralgami Sounds in 2017. From there, the project went from a solo act, to duo, trio, and eventually a four-piece band, drifting into a more shoegaze-centered sound before disbanding in 2019. Yarns Spun represents something of a full-circle journey for Wade, returning to its solo outlet origins.]
[Soft Self Portraits re-launched as a solo project in August of 2023 inspired by Wade’s move to Seattle. “I first tried moving here 12 years ago, and it felt daunting to find my way as a musician. When I moved back recently, I met people that were supportive and passionate about making music. That inspired me to revisit my music,” they say. These days Soft Self Portraits is an up-and-coming act in the Seattle pop-scene alongside contemporaries like Lane Lines and Super Heavy, frequently playing Sunset Tavern and Rabbit Box theater.]
[Yarns Spun finds Wade revisiting unreleased Soft Self Portraits full-band songs and a brace of new tracks. The music is hazy and warm, lavished with balmy harmony backing vocals, eerily familiar dreamscapes, hypnotic and minimalistic lyrics and vocal melodies, and raw, indie rock drums. Wade likens the contrast of 1980s new wave ethereal textures melded to live drums as evoking a feeling of dreaming and being awake at the same time. The 10-song album invites comparisons to LCD Soundsystem, Beach House, and Soft Bulletin-era The Flaming Lips.]
[Revisiting their lyrics and resurrecting old songs with new music was a powerful exercise in self-evolution for Wade. “I wrote a lot of these lyrics before I figured out where I fit with regard to my gender identity. Back then, I felt displaced and lonely, but over the years my life has changed greatly. I have fully embraced who I am, and I am a part of a scene that celebrates that. Singing these lyrics now shows me how far I’ve come,” Wade shares.]
Until next time.
-Robbert Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/softselfportraits
https://www.facebook.com/softselfportraits
What started out as an experiment with a cassette deck and a synthesizer quickly evolved into an outlet for self-exploration for Soft Self Portraits’s Cody Wade. Through the meditative and melancholy dream pop reveries of their record, Yarns Spun, they process a myriad of sentiments and seismic life changes. Prior to the release of the 10-song album, Soft Self Portraits will issue the single Departures.
The lead single, Departures, is an emotional centerpiece of the album, featuring rich and round ringing bass notes, chiming keys, delicate layers of synths, dreamy harmony vocals courtesy of Wade’s best friend, Mandi Kimes, heartfelt lead vocals, and propulsive drums. The song was initially written during Wade’s first year of sobriety back in 2015, and it unpacks all the painfully complex relearning that comes with such a drastic change, including confronting codependency.
“It's easy to get addicted to love and look for it in places that aren't healthy or fulfilling to you, and you can hear that in the lyrics. The lines ‘Don't you ever think about it? Don't you ever think about me?’ sort of serve as a double entendre of wanting to be validated, wanting to be thought about, and then moving into the post-relationship phase of closure and clarity shifting the narrative to never wanting them to think about you again.”
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