M(h)aol releases new album Something Soft, Shares “1800-Call-Me-Back” video
M(h)aol releases new album Something Soft today on Merge Records
Shares “1800-Call-Me-Back” video
New UK Headline Shows Announced
Stream: Something Soft on All Digital Platforms
Today M(h)aol are excited to release their highly anticipated new album Something Soft on Merge Records and TULLE (order). On Something Soft, the Irish post-punk firebrands M(h)aol offer catharsis, in two forms: the kind you get from being open with others, and the kind you get from righteously smashing some shit up.
From the first note of its propulsive opening track to the distorted cries of its last, the record feels antagonistic to the very concept of softness, sonically and thematically, taking an unapologetic approach to intersectional feminism, animal welfare, consumerism, and the struggle to find a place in a world lacking in empathy.
To celebrate their new album, the 3-piece are sharing a video for "1800-Call-Me-Back" which was made with their phones showing their daily life on Thursday, May 1 in their separate cities.
Drummer/vocalist Constance Keane says, "This track is about getting ghosted, which I personally think should be a criminal offence for anyone over the age of 25. The intro sound came from me and Sean watching the Euros and talking about football chants. I am not actually interested in football, but there’s something about international football where teams can’t buy people that I got super on board with that year. This is our football song."
Effectively channeling rage and empathy is an act of resilience, and to make Something Soft, M(h)aol had to become especially resilient. Following their acclaimed debut Attachment Styles, M(h)aol’s line-up changed, settling on the core trio of Constance Keane (drums/vocals, she/her), Jamie Hyland (bass/vocals, she/her), and Sean Nolan (guitar, he/him), with Sarah Deegan (she/her) joining the live band. This evolution reshaped their creative process, pushing their songwriting and performance into bold new territory—where many bands might have faltered, M(h)aol found a breakthrough.
Something Soft features a more urgent sound wound tightly around Hyland and Keane’s rhythm. On songs like "Pursuit" and "Snare," Keane’s vocals lock in on her drums, as if her words were stirred to life by her playing, issued directly from her body. Set against those respectively anxious and swaggering tracks, her voice occupies the space of an inner monologue narrating a tense walk home, and green room misogyny from a place of droll observance, a universal experience rendered in specific detail.
Like its predecessors Attachment Styles and the Gender Studies EP, Something Soft was recorded by Jamie Hyland. It is the most technically nimble of M(h)aol’s recordings to date, with the band - joined by Pixie Cut Rhythm Orchestra’s Sarah Deegan on bass - decamping to Dublin’s Ailfionn Studio where they took advantage of the space and studio equipment to bring more nuance to their sound. The additional sessions and prowess behind the boards were a boon, but for a band used to operating under extreme time constraints, this presented an unexpected challenge: Could M(h)aol keep the sense of immediacy that had marked their music up to that point?
M(h)aol have a roguish charms, making the intimate feel anthemic, using personal experience to detail the broader systems we live under. For those who’ve come to recognise themselves in M(h)aol’s songs, listening to Something Soft is like jumping into a long-running chat thread, full of fury and humor. For those who haven’t, the door is open - Something Soft’s thrills often turn on a dime towards introspection, as in "Snare" where Keane’s response to the question “Why not play something soft like piano or violin?” resolves itself to one of her "Did you ask him too?” It’s not a lecture or a snide rebuke but something much more deft: an invitation to see the world for what it really is, starting with the listener.
M(h)aol have announced UK headline shows this September in support of Something Soft. To celebrate the release, the band will play tonight in London at George Tavern and have an in-store performance at Rough Trade East in London on May 20. An Irish tour with Cola and Junk Drawer will take place May 28 to June 4.
M(h)aol Tour Dates
05.16 - London, UK @ George Tavern
05.18 - Brussels, BE @ Les Nuits Botanique
05.20 - London, UK @ Rough Trade East (In-Store performance)
05.28 -Belfast, IE @ The Black Box *
05.29 - Derry, IE @ Sandinos *
05.30 - Galway, IE @ Roisin Dubh *
05.31 - Limerick, IE @ Dolan’s Kasbah *
06.01 - Cork, IE @ Coughlan’s *
06.02 - Cork, IE @ Coughlan’s *
06.03 - Waterford, IE @ Luca’s Records and Decks *
06.04 - Dublin, IE @ Whelan’s *
06.13 - Rennes, FR @ Pies Pala Pop
06.14 - Paris, FR @ More Women on Stage
09.17 - Glasgow, UK @ Nice N Sleazy
09.18 - Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete's
09.19 - Birkenhead, UK @ Future Yard
09.20 - Leeds, UK @ Headrow House
09.23 - Southampton, UK @ Heartbreakers
09.24 - Bristol, UK @ The Louisiana
09.25 - Nottingham, UK @ Rough Trade
09.26 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds
09.27 - Manchester, UK @ SOUP
* Irish Tour with Cola and Junk Drawer
photo credit: Cait Fahey
