Album Review: Smith Westerns - Soft Will

Smith Westerns are living the young music dream: known for music that nods enthusiastically to their musical heroes, and a sound that has progressed wonderfully with their age and their experience in the industry.

Their third release Soft Will is seemingly the graduation of this band's music education, a realisation that the world is a lot bigger than just a band, and that life is going to knock you down more times than you can imagine. It is an album that revolves around those nostalgic feelings of yesteryear, reflecting on their experiences in life in a melodic, indie-pop fashion. 3am Spiritual opens the album and acts as a bridge between Soft Will and their previous album Dye It Blonde. The dreamy tune with soft melodies is the embodiment of summer and it flows seamlessly into equally as dreamy tune Idol.

The inclusion of a well-structured instrumental track is my weakness, and thus a stand out of the album is definitely the instrumental XXIII. The whimsical, melodic sounds that resonate from this song continue the theme of the album, but create a beautiful, simple moment that you want to stay in forever.

Closer Varsity is a summation of the feelings of youthfulness, nostalgia and summer dreaming that Soft Will presents. With a huge chorus, catchy synth and guitar riffs, it is hard not to feel like you are dancing around, drenched in the sunshine – even if it is pouring with rain and zero degrees outside. And just in case the album's first ten tracks were not enough, the band threw on two bonus ones for your greedy ears.