Soon

Soon has energy, melody and the guts to rock out when needed ! Well, at least that's the impression you get while listening to this incredible band ! Founded somewhere in 1996, this band from the Leuven/Antwerp area ( Belgium ) has gone through quite a few changes. Not only because some changes of bandmembers, but especially because things became more and more balanced and serious. Day by day, their music was taking shape. Like they describe it themselves : ‘we try to express and play our music in the best possible way by using roaring, explosive guitars, dipped in a melodic structure. A careful mix of fragile and solid fragments to create a powerful sound, a spoonful of frenzy and a fair amount of passion and drive. ‘ No surprise their debut album ‘please accelerate' (released in 2003) hit the Belgian indie scene straight in the face. They played all over Belgium , including shows on festivals like Rock Herk, Pukkelpop and many others and toured their asses of with various support tours for Face Tomorrow and some touring in the UK with various bands. And then it became time to start working on that new album. But not without some reflection. Easily labeled as one of Belgium's premier emocore bands, the band constantly pushes against the boundaries of the ‘genre' , creating a sound of their own . A sound that succeeds in tearing down musical frontiers and simply rocks without gettting ‘generic'. And that ‘s exactly what they wanted to achieve on the brandnew album ‘on the wire' . During the songwriting process they focused on melody (without losing that characteristic intensity) and added a whole lot of new ingredients in the mix ! The final result is indierock at it's very best, incorporating elments from both UK and US ‘rockschool' and topped of with that typical Soon sound.   After the recordings in july, they spent august in London to do the mixing at the respected Fortress Studio and the mastering at Uk's transfermation studio.

Christophe : Guitars
Gaeten : Guitars
Enzo : Lead Vocals
Johan : Drums
Christophe : Bass

'Give us comfort' mini cd, 2002, Soon (self produced)
'Please Accelerate' cd, Funtime Records 2003
'Under The Wire' cd, Funtime Records 2005
'As Of Yet' cd, Funtime Records 2008

'minor operatives' from 'Please Accelerate' cd
'secrets' from 'Under The Wire' cd

Serenade The City

www.soonsite.be
www.myspace.com/thehodynasty

From: www.concreteweb.be

Band : Soon
Album title : As Of Yet
Label : Funtime
Distributor : Suburban
Release date : 30/10/2008
Release : (Digipak) CD

Oh my...the cheeks of my face, bent down in awe, are coloured with the soft pink cloud of shame when listening to this Leuven based Belgian band's latest offering. I mean, reviews of earlier works were positive enough, although perhaps lacking in clarity about the musical contents of the albums! And that's my only defence for not having picked up on the band (which is based in my hometown too...of all places...even if its members are now former student from other parts of the country) before, you know!

A short overview of the band's history: formed in 2000 the band, line-up composed of singer Enzo Cloetens, guitarists Gaetan Vandewoude (also plays synths/ does backing vocals) and his brother Christophe (also plays piano here and there), bassist Christophe Van Dender, and drummer Johan De Coster, self-releases its mini-album Give Us Comfort in 2001-2002 and then enters the Humo Rock Rally band competition. They "only" get into the finals, but impress enough to ensure themselves a deal with Funtime, who release the band's debut album Please Accelerate in Spring 2003. Soon immediately throws itself on the live circuit to promote the album, playing local suats as well as support slots for the likes of Karate and The Termals, as well as landing a spot on Belgium's prestigious Pukkelpop. After that the boys also venture outside Belgium, gracing stages all over the Benelux as well as getting to play in Austria, France, and the UK! Late 2005 sees the release of sophomore album Under The Wire. Recorded at London's Fortress Studios by Gareth Parton (of The Go Team, Futureheads, The Pipettes reputation), it saw the quintet re-inventing their sound to a more Post Rock type style, with a refinement of their songwriting skills. In spite of getting superlatives in the media, people are slow in picking up the album...things which greatly inprove thanks to 2 singles played on national radio, and a video for the song "Serenade The City". New songs were recorded towards the end of 2006, to be featured on a split release with US West Coast bands Elemae and Memorial, issued in early 2007 on American label Engineer Records.

The 11 tracks on the new album were recorded & mixed in several sessions (starting January of this year) in the boys' own home studios, and eventually mastered by Kris Baelen at Zulte's CCR. Hey...and while I'm finally getting to business in writing these fact down (I've been actually been somewhat relectant to get things going decently because I wanted more listening sessions with the album...you know, once the review done, there's little chance that I'll be able to listen to the album again pretty soon, because these days there's enough stuff coming out to make any collector go bezerk about not being able to pay for all the goodies...and all these releases also needing to get reviewed means a lót of work for yours truly) I suddenly see a line in the biography which somehow eluded my attention up to this moment...namely the following, "A fine collection of songs that show another side of Soon. Melancholic and Pop driven songs with a distinctive groove that grabs your attention from the first moment you hear them," meaning quite simply that I suddenly feel relief, as the band's current sound is possibly a new thing. Hum...no matter what, I'm stíll going to order this outfit's previous albums to find out where they come from, hoping the current sound finds echoes in the past!

So, what càn you expect? Generally speaking, you might call it "Indie Rock with a sense of groove and a touch of melancholy". In fact, had this album come out some 10 years ago, it would've made shockwaves in the then current Sad Dad Trad Rock movement which was doin' so well back then! There's something swirling in the guitar work, even though the boys don't exactly make use of echo effects much. The drums...there's something truly special, man! I mean, the drummer does a lot of little things which only become obvious when you're tuning your ear to it, but which are ever so important in the overall sound, you know! Then there's the vocals, yet another very important part of the whole, as with his slightly hoarse voice and medium high pitch, it's of course the singer who puts down the all-encompassing melancholic mood over the whole thing! Say, you know, I don't really need to analise Soon's current-day sound, since you can listen to the whóle album at myspace.com/thehodynasty. One warning in advance: if you're indeed gonna listen to the songs, you'd better be prepared to wanna spend the amount of money necessary to buy the album, because the material is só addictive you'll wanna have it close at hand at all times! In other words, here's another addition to my year-lists!

98/100

Tony.