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What started out as an experiment with a cassette deck and a synthesizer quickly evolved into an outlet for self-exploration for
Soft Self Portraits’s
Cody Wade. Through the meditative and melancholy dream pop reveries of their record, Yarns Spun, they process a myriad of sentiments and seismic life changes.
“This collection grew and grew, and I spun it all together into one ball of songs that tell a story, confront feelings of unrequited love, and explore getting rid of past habits and learning from my mistakes,” the Seattle-based artist says.
Soft Self Portraits started as a Louisville, Kentucky-based bedroom pop project consisting of a loop pedal, cassette deck, an 80's synth, and a karaoke mic that ended up in a 6-track demo called
Panther's Moon released on Sea Speak Recordings in February 2016. The demo was followed by the debut album,
Hold Me Up To The Light, released on Auralgami Sounds in 2017. From there, the project went from a solo act, to duo, trio, and eventually a four-piece band, drifting into a more shoegaze-centered sound before disbanding in 2019.
Yarns Spun represents something of a full-circle journey for Wade, returning to its solo outlet origins.
Soft Self Portraits re-launched as a solo project in August of 2023 inspired by Wade’s move to Seattle. “I first tried moving here 12 years ago, and it felt daunting to find my way as a musician. When I moved back recently, I met people that were supportive and passionate about making music. That inspired me to revisit my music,” they say. These days Soft Self Portraits is an up-and-coming act in the Seattle pop-scene alongside contemporaries like
Lane Lines and
Super Heavy, frequently playing Sunset Tavern and Rabbit Box theater.
Yarns Spun finds Wade revisiting unreleased Soft Self Portraits full-band songs and a brace of new tracks. The music is hazy and warm, lavished with balmy harmony backing vocals, eerily familiar dreamscapes, hypnotic and minimalistic lyrics and vocal melodies, and raw, indie rock drums. Wade likens the contrast of 1980s new wave ethereal textures melded to live drums as evoking a feeling of dreaming and being awake at the same time. The 10-song album invites comparisons to
LCD Soundsystem,
Beach House, and
Soft Bulletin-era
The Flaming Lips.
Revisiting their lyrics and resurrecting old songs with new music was a powerful exercise in self-evolution for Wade. “I wrote a lot of these lyrics before I figured out where I fit with regard to my gender identity. Back then, I felt displaced and lonely, but over the years my life has changed greatly. I have fully embraced who I am, and I am a part of a scene that celebrates that. Singing these lyrics now shows me how far I’ve come,” Wade shares.
Yarns Spun opens with a drone overlaid with melody lines that refract from it like a rainbow streaming forth from a prism. It’s an inviting musical gesture to an album of transformation, deep reflection, and, ultimately, triumph over demons, confusion, and frustration. The melancholy single, “Departures,” speaks to a fragile time in early sobriety of learning how to live again. A hushed awe musicality flows through “Slumber,” an atmospheric piece consisting of a slowly oozing pastel musicality that loosely references
The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence.” This song is a portal to an intimate conversation between Wade’s heart and their head. They sing: You don't have to fall in love/It’s not what you're thinking of.
Wade likens “Cancer Moon” to a sad ballroom dance. It’s a song of heartbreak and it features wispy, almost early
Depeche Mode-sounding melodies, a descending bass line, harmony vocals that metaphorically fade away into one lone voice, and a rare appearance of a faint electric guitar. Wade’s sweetly somber vocals here are beautifully sad, and they sing such poignant lines as: The heart doesn't fall like that/You know it's a delicate way/Don’t ask me to give it back/If you never gave it away. The penultimate track, “Wistful Thinking,” is a stately and reflective 1980s new wave-esque song with a soft sense of victory. “That is a love letter to myself for embracing sobriety and finding myself after feeling lost,” Wade says.
The instruments and vocals for
Yarns Spun were recorded in Wade’s bedroom which has been dubbed the “Indoor Storm.” The live drums on all tracks but “Dud Fantasy” were played by Wade’s old Soft Self Portraits’ bandmate,
Scott Boice (
Pleasure Boys,
Phourist and the Photons,
Mod Kiddo), and tracked at La La Land in Louisville, KY with
Anne Gauthier engineering the session. The album’s warm vocal harmonies were provided by
Mandi Kimes (
Lane Lines). “Dud Fantasy” features bass from
Vaughan Jones (Lane Lines) joining
Dr. Dog drummer
Eric Slick.