Album review: BONES UK – Soft

Over the past five years, BONES UK have been gathering ideas for the follow-up of their brilliant self-titled debut album. After touring with the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age, Smashing Pumpkins and Korn, as well as picking up a GRAMMY nomination, it’s fair to say they’ve garnered a lot of attention for a band whose name is curiously still fresh on people’s lips.

It’s no surprise, then, that on their second album, Soft, we see and hear a band who are fully operational and starting to reach the very top of their game. Like their debut, they stay true to who they are by offering up something that feels very human. It’s raw, unapologetic and keeps things real.

Opener Bikinis is an instant earworm, with its almost provocative riff making you want to hip shake until something pops, all the while spreading a message of self-worth and celebrating who you are. Elsewhere, Won’t Settle tackles the expectation to settle down, when in reality society needs to embrace change and allow people to live however the hell they want. It also finds QOTSA’s Mike Shuman jumping on bass to add a groovy lick to the fuzz.

After the atmospheric, eerie Knee Deep and the pulsating electro bop of Teeth, Soft is wrapped up with the soothing, almost acoustic ballad of What If I Died, all displaying the breadth of what BONES UK can do. It’s a record that wears its influences on its sleeve, from garage to stoner rock, to electronica.

Next time, can we not wait almost half a decade for another record, please?

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Queens of the Stone Age, Smashing Pumpkins, Royal Blood

Soft is released on September 13 via Sumerian