PATTEN + THE SOFT
Thursday 1st March @ The Portland Arms
Doors 8pm, £5 adv from here
PATTEN
With a debut LP at the sharp-end of many Album of 2011 lists, the elusive Patten is coming to Cambridge, crafting something fresh and new out of the debris of falling genres. Sketches of dirty electronica blend with industrial beats and dance floor breaks, but all heard through the post-dubstep industrial greyness of inner city life. It’s not exclusively dark though. There’s optimism at work here and a joyful blend of noise that brings to mind gloriously Technicolor environments. Influenced by a heady brew of Tricky, Massive Attack and the IDM of late 90’s Warp, there’s no need to classify this – there are echoes of the past, but this is the sound of the future.
THE SOFT
Finally a local band to get excited about, Bury St Edmunds’ The Soft have escaped the confines of Suffolk, their music finding influence on both sides of the Atlantic and championed by the likes of No Fear of Pop, Largehearted Boy and The Line of Best Fit. There’s a hint of the xx in their swirling and ambient electro-pop that flirts with darkness and light. There’s an experimental heart to their music, but that doesn’t mean they’ve ignored their obvious love of pop music. Having floored the crowd at last year’s Wish You Were Here festival, the future is very bright for this group of youngsters.
