SOFT PLAY – Their First Album In Six Years “Heavy Jelly” Out July 19th; The Album Includes Latest Singles “Act Violently” + “Everything And Nothing”

UK-based duo SOFT PLAY will be releasing their fourth album, and first in six years, ‘HEAVY JELLY‘ on July 19th via BMG. The band accompanied the announcement with single ‘Act Violently‘, which was premiered by Zane Lowe and the most recently released “Everything and Nothing”, a subversive step away from what you’d expect from SOFT PLAY.

The band brings a playful sense of humour to the granite grind of ‘Act Violently’. Its tightrope taut heaviness and the clean punch of its production takes its cues from nu-metal, but stylistically, its classic, smearing Brit punk with a hardcore attack heightened by anarchic unpredictability. Its story is inspired by an experience that’s replicated in every town across the country on a daily basis – the pair almost getting hit by a lunatically out-of-control e-scooter as they stepped out of album sessions at The Libertines‘ Albion Rooms studio in Margate.

Laurie adds: “The whole walk back to the studio, we discussed our contempt for e-scooter drivers. They should be illegal. They shouldn’t be on the road. They should need a theory test. It was just a rich well to discuss, and the song’s about that”.

The ‘Act Violently’ video very directly visualises the track’s narrative. In the band’s hometown of Tunbridge Wells, Isaac is plagued by the same e-scooter wherever he goes: first almost splattering him as he leaves a shop, then knocking his phone out of his hand in the park and then coming close to running him over on a zebra crossing. Eventually Isaac snaps and vows to cast his vengeance vigilante-style, like Kent’s answer to Travis Bickle. But there’s a twist in the tale… 

In contrast to the full visceral attack of ‘Act Violently’, ‘Everything and Nothing’ is dominated by jangly mandolin and mournful violin. Yet this most definitely isn’t a token ballad, with Isaac Holman’s blood-letting vocals as raw, uncompromising and vulnerable as ever. It was in part inspired by the passing of Isaac’s friend, but loss is countered by hope: its final words (“I feel love”) neatly encapsulating the emotional honesty that the duo express throughout much of the ‘HEAVY JELLY’ album.

Isaac says: ‘’I started writing the words in lockdown in the depths of a mental health breakdown. My good mate Bailey had just passed away, Laurie had not long lost his partner, Emma to cancer. It was one thing after the next. I got to the line about Bailey and couldn’t for the life of me think of what to say next, so I left it where it was. 3 years later (last year) I went round to Laurie’s and he had just got this mandolin, we laid down the instrumental and I remembered I had these words in the notes on my phone. Laurie asked me what it was about and I was having trouble explaining it, then he said “so it’s just like everything and nothing.” We demo’d the tune and took it to the studio (lyrics still unfinished). During that stint, I kept seeing people that looked like Bailey, which unlocked the next line of the tune and allowed the rest to come out”.

Laurie Vincent adds: “These past few years have been really hard for so many people. The song and video encapsulates the journeys we’ve all been on: loss, love, rebirth, it’s the cycle of life. Raw pain and bitter beauty”.

The ‘Everything and Nothing’ video celebrates Bailey’s life with a touching moment of communion and remembrance. Isaac and Laurie perform the song as they host a gathering of his family and friends. Together they pay tribute to their late friend, sharing stories and memories before the video closes with a final photo of his mum. It’s a moment in which loss is palpable, but the power of human connections shines through. Shot in evocative black-and-white photography, the video was directed by SOFT PLAY’s regular visual collaborator Thomas Davis.

‘HEAVY JELLY’ is available to pre-order HERE. A jelly green vinyl is the pick of the formats, while the band’s official store offers signed CDs and black vinyls as well as a signed contact sheet with all album bundles.

After playing select shows in 2023 including an arena tour with The Prodigy plus festival sets at Reading & Leeds and headlining 2000trees, SOFT PLAY raise the bar this summer today with the announcement that they’ll be playing The Other Stage at this year’s Glastonbury Festival. More summer shows included Download, Truck and Boardmasters. 

PRE-ORDER “HEAVY JELLY” HERE

“HEAVY JELLY” Tracklist

1. All Things
2. Punk’s Dead
3. Act Violently
4. Isaac Is Typing…
5. Bin Juice Disaster
6. Worms On Tarmac
7. John Wick
8. Mirror Muscles
9. Working Title
10. The Mushroom and The Swan
11. Everything and Nothing