Soft Hearted Scientists
Waltz Of The Weekend (3lp/black)
Black vinyl version. After a long hiatus, Soft Hearted Scientists returned in 2023 with their most ambitious album yet, packed with psych pop singles and longer sound journeys such as 'Waltz Of The Weekend,' 'Anemone Song' and 'Lost Mariners.' And now it's time for the album to make its first appearance on vinyl, courtesy of Fruits de Mer Records. There have been glowing reviews of the CD album, but one comment summed up the progress the album represents for the band in simple terms: "The pop songs have got poppier, and the weird songs have got weirder." Producer Frank Naughton came into his own at the mixing stage and helped to graft newly written sections into some songs which gave them more depth. 'Rode My Bike' was one such song, and the middle section of that then took on a life of its own to become a standalone track called 'Gadzooks!,' probably the most over-the-top song they have ever released, tipping its hat to the Butthole Surfers' cover version of 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' and James Bond themes along the way. 'Who Loves The Moon?' grew from a few chords and a repeated refrain of about 2 minutes into an 8 minute multi- sectioned trip; similarly, 'Lost Mariners' grew from a short mantra into an 11 minute ghost story. The album finished with obsessive attention to detail in 2023 was vastly superior to the album band leader Nathan Hall and his fellow members tentatively started in 2019. And now Fruits de Mer Records are more than a bit pleased to be releasing 'Waltz Of The Weekend' on vinyl - SIX sides of it (we try not to do things by halves). In addition to the 12 tracks from the 75 minute CD edition, side five of the vinyl set includes three radical remixes of the songs 'Rode My Bike,' 'What Grows Inside The Garden' and 'The Sea Anemone Song' by producer Frank Naughton, while the final side contains a sidelong remix/remake of elements of the album by Frank who ripped the songs to bits with glee, free from Nathan Hall's album mix obsessiveness, and remade them as he wished without inhibition - what a trip.