Soft Lad - Give It A Go EP

90s pop has received something of a reputational rehabilitation in recent years, and nowhere is that clearer than in SOFT LAD’s new EP, ‘Give It A Go’.

‘Give It A Go’ is a walking tour of dating, relationships, and the unravelling thereof. Tracks ‘The Human Condition’ and ‘Least Of My Worries’ explore the guilt associated with being in love while you struggle to even like yourself sometimes. ‘MUNA’ is an eye-roll at people who get the ick and immediately dart, and ‘Tell Me If You’re Over Me’ shows the frustration of someone sick of getting mixed signals from their latest situationship. ‘365’, though, is a love letter to SOFT LAD’s fiancée, allowing her to voice all the things she’s too embarrassed to say to her partner’s face.

As an ode to 90s/00s pop, this EP is pretty much faultless. It covers all the classic pop tropes, conveying romantic highs and lows through catchy drumbeats and vocal layering, and her discussion of mental health through Self Esteem-esque lyrics brings a more modern edge to proceedings. The result is very listenable, and it could easily be on the Heartstopper soundtrack. SOFT LAD has clearly cherry-picked inspiration from a variety of artists, which is unsurprising given her history as a very prolific session musician, but still created something that can be attributed to her alone. Sure, there’s room to be slightly more daring and move away from the tried and tested methods, but ‘Give It A Go’ definitely fulfils its brief.