Soft Screams is a long going project from local musicians Connor Mac, I believe I am initially aware of the group from pre-pandemic times. The album titled “Life’s Labor Lost” features fuzzy riffs, DIY lo-fidelity, and doomy lyrics. It is a testament to the hard work of a local artist working their hardest to accomplish their vision.

The first track titled, “Anything I Want” is a powerpop, punk rock, driving beat with a great vocal melody. With the low fidelity flavor, the different instruments sort of blend into that cassette reminiscent sound. The song is quick and has a few drum breaks to line-up the different sections.

Next track is titled, “Summer Sailors Never Surrender”. It starts out with more fuzzy guitar, this time with a pair of counter-point sort of melodies. One guitar is working as a chugging bass and the other more of the twinkly lead. After a short stop, the song comes in fully with more of those driving drums. Pop punk meets the Hives seems to be the idea here. Emo sort of melodies create an interesting soundscape.

The third track is titled, “Hell in my Hands”. The lyrics start over the guitars, “I got a little bit of hell in my hands, and my grip is getting tighter.” The fuzzy power punk feel continues, each song seems to follow a bit of a recipe on how to build up to the driving drum beats. The pre-chorus mixes up the drums a bit and seems to be inspired by more art/noise rock sort of riffs before going into a chant, “It’s in my hands… It’s in my hands…”

I will leave the rest of the album for the reader to listen to themselves. With 10 total tracks, the full length album evokes bands like the Strokes, the Vines, and that whole era of mid 2000s rock and punk rock. While I feel that the low fidelity of the project was intentional, I think that the lyrics could have been left more clean. The doubled vocals waver in places, and the vocals sort of blend into the mix when they could stand out more. This just makes the words hard to hear in places.

“Life’s Labor Lost” was released on 9/22/23! Check out Soft Screams at their next show!