Quite the interesting musical flavor
2 Lost Souls bring back their usual funky musical approach in their latest record, The Social Life. This new album is filled with a defined and clean musical soundscape throughout each song, that at times can come off a bit strong. The clashing of the energetic spoken word lyrics catches a new listener off guard at first, but give it time, and it all begins to come together through each listen.
Based out of Manchester UK, Two Lost Souls is made up of Paul Rosenfeld and Ian Moss. The Social Life comes in as the band’s sixth studio record, releasing after their fifth record, Yarn Bombs. Their first record, Cords and Digits, was released in 2019, and the band has kept up its pace releasing five studio albums along with several singles and EPs.
In opening track “Dead Popstars” listeners are greeted with a rich and deep British accented vocal that presents a spoken word. The electric guitar is thin and scratchy, filled with dissonant notes mixed with clashing percussion. At moments the instrumentation settles, offering relief to the ear. However, near the end every element flies off the rails and becomes chaotic in a frenzy of noise.
Starting like an 80s Sci-Fi movie, “Dog B Cat” kicks off with a swiping arpeggiated synth quickly met with gritty guitar and persistent percussion. The whole song is quite strange, almost feeling like a six-CD changer is glitching and playing two different CDs at the same time. Keeping the ’80s theme, “I’m Telepathic” sounds like a rich ’80s pop song with a twist of its own. The vocals seem to sit high above the music playing around it, again making it feel like these two elements don’t belong to each other.
“In The Slow Time” greets the ears with a vast synthetic soundscape, with a funky 70s groove rising to the forefront behind it. This vibrant track has so many moving parts that for a moment it becomes hard to focus on one or two elements. As the whirling chaotic mixture of swelling synths and electric guitar fades the vocals come in and the soundscape clears, slipping into a calm funky groove that finishes out the track.
Closing out the record is “Wide Boys” an interesting track that perfectly brings the album to an end. The song is almost soothing, flowing effortlessly with a jazz brush percussion and gentle guitar. A delicious Rhodes organ peaks its head out from under the soundscape in perfect moments. Out of the whole record, “Wide Boys” seems to be the only track that mixes the vocals and the music perfectly.
2 Lost Souls deliver a very interesting vibe within The Social Life’s discography. Some moments are filled with satisfying musical instrumentations, and at other times seem to be disconnected with all of its sections and parts. It may be an acquired taste, but definitely still worth the listen.
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