Say Hello To: Soft Reeds

So, I've given enough attention lately to The Republic Tigers that it's time to move on to the other spawn of The Golden Republic: Soft Reeds. Around the same time TRT were spotted in TGR's top friends on MySpace, so were Soft Reeds, the new project of singer Ben Grimes.

Activity on their MySpace page had been rather dormant for awhile, until over the weekend when a bulletin was sent out informing the world that new demos from the upcoming Soft Reeds album, which may or may not be called Let's Get Old, were available to check out. It also appears that Mr. Grimes has packed up and found himself in a new town, relocating from his beloved Kansas City to his new home of Nashville, the musical capital of everywhere.

The three new songs show a different canvas in which Grimes is painting upon. "A Brave New World" finds Grimes entering said new world, which is true - new "band," new location - thinking why, why, why. "Thick Of Thin Things" somewhat reminds me of the Republic he once fronted, with its keyboards humming and distinct guitar playing, filled out in the chorus by ghostly backing vocals. And there's "Look Back In Anger," which could be a retort to the Oasis tune that has a similar title, that could be an outtake from the BJM's Thank God For Mental Illness.

All in all, what Grimes is cooking up sounds rather promising: if the songs sound this good as demos, who knows what he could come up with in final versions for a release. He informed me the other day he's hoping to wrap work on the album soon and finalizing a line-up to bring the show back on the road. And that's a good thing, because it just means I get to keep spreading the gospel even more on what ever happened to one of the best bands that broke up too soon.

Stream: "A Brave New World," "Thick Of Thin Things," "Look Back In Anger" [here]

*Also be certain to check out the MySpace page for the original demo of "Buildings And Mountains," that was a Golden Republic live staple long before it was Republic Tigers track, as well as "Hemel Dalingen," the last recorded jam released by TGR before they disbanded.