Atlanta nerve pop trio Small Reactions have recently released their latest LP, a ten-track album called New Age Soul via SofaBurn Records on July 2nd. The album finds the band at what feels like a more intentional and mature place in their approach to songwriting and recording.
Long a fixture of the Atlanta indie-rock scene Small Reactions has traditionally played what could be described as a hybridized garage/surf rock, made their own with flourishing pop hooks that disappear as quickly as they arrived, and accented by wild little flashes of electric guitar or a stray moody undertone; sort of a modern day Echo and the Bunnymen.
But New Age Soul is something different for the band, not because it’s a departure so much as a refining. It’s an album with more intention, more minimal instrumentations of guitar, bass, organs, and drums; a tread through the familiar new wave, post-pun, drone and surf soup that defines them, but done with exactness, with specificity. It feels polished. Particularly so as the relative comfort of the albums introductory tracks bleeds into the “weird middle eighth, inspired by West Texas,” as guitarist Ross Politi put it.
For that newfound polish, the band credits producer by Ben Etter, who produced nearly every track on the album (except “New Age Soul” and “Police State,” which were produced by Jason Kingsland). The album was recorded at Maze Studios in Atlanta’s Reynoldstown neighborhood.
“Our last album was in 2017, and every album prior to this one had been self recorded,” said lead singer Scotty Hoffman. “So yeah, we were excited to get into Maze Studios and wanted to step it up. We wanted it to be bigger and hit harder, which is funny because I think we played fewer notes and made less noise to get there.”
As drummer Sean Zearfoss noted, “The effort was to make an album that was better and more dynamic than previous work. Jason Kingsland took us on as a project and got us our start. Then Ben [Etter] brought it home. We’ll work with him as long as he wants to work with us, because he really brought this album into fruition.”
The result is ten mature, well-built rock and roll tracks clocking in at just over 40 minutes. Standout tracks include “Park Place”, “New Age Soul”, and “Speak and Dress”.
Listen for yourself on Spotify, Bandcamp and wherever nerve pop is sold. You can also preorder Small Reactions’ New Age Soul on Electric Blue Vinyl at SofaBurn Records.
SMALL REACTIONS ONLINE
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UPCOMING SMALL REACTIONS TOUR DATES
FRI 8/27 – Atlanta, GA at The EARL – Album Release Show (w/ DOTS and Challenger Deep) TICKETS
SAT 8/28 – Cincinnati, OH at Fountain Square (w/ Lung and Paige Beller)
FRI 9/17 – Atlanta, GA at The Masquerade in Hell (w/ The Ocean Blue) TICKETS
Check out photos from Small Reactions SOLD OUT show with Surfer Blood at The EARL on July 30th, 2021 by Mike Gerry below:
