Track By Track: Soft Plastics Debut Album 'Saturn Return'

Making a big splash with their astrologically titled debut album Saturn Return, Te Whanganui-a-Tara's Soft Plastics will soon be wending their way across Aotearoa on a five date release tour. Co-produced by James Goldsmith with Soft Plastics bandmates Sophie Scott-Maunder, Jonathan Shirley and Laura Robinson, singer / guitarist Scott-Maunder generously shared behind the scenes insights about the making of each and every track on their fuzz-fuelled, often emotionally brutal first official long player. Go catch them at the following dates, cop some of their snazzily designed merch HERE and scroll downwards for the full scoop on Saturn Return...

Soft Plastics - Saturn Return Album Release Tour

Friday 5th May - Darkroom, Ōtautahi / Christchurch
Saturday 6th May - Yours, Ōtepoti / Dunedin
Friday 12th May - You Know Where, Whanganui (secret location)
Saturday 13th May - Whammy, Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland
Friday 2nd June - Meow, Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington*

Tickets available HERE via UTR
*Tickets available from moshtix

'My World/Your Girl'

The song that most people (including ourselves) continue to say incorrectly. My Girl, Your World? Close enough. We released this track in 2020 but wanted to give it the special treatment for the album, with mellotron, cello, reverbed snare and layers of guitar. The ultimate sad girl song.

'Easy to Forget'

Easy to Forget might be the poppiest song on the record. We had fun writing this one and Jono got to play heaps of instruments including acoustic guitar and arpeggiating synths. We asked Merk to provide some baritone backing vocals which added some extra depth to the vocal melodies.

'Loozer'

We released Loozer as a single in 2021. It was originally recorded at Pyramid Club with help from Lochie Noble and Oliver Devlin. We called up James Goldsmith to mix the track which was our first time working with him. When we were mapping out the album we decided to rerecord the song with James, for a more “studio quality” version.

'Anything I Wanted'

I still haven’t figured out what this song is about but it’s got a nice groovy bassline and a fun garagey chorus (maybe inspired from Jono and I’s Beatcomber days?). We decided to go a bit harder on the vocal effects and Jono played around with lots of swirly phasers on the guitars.

'Swan Song'

The cool thing about recording in a proper music studio is that you can eye up all the interesting and/or expensive gear and play around with it. Jono had been checking out the Fender Rhodes at the Surgery Studios and we thought it was the perfect sound for this very melancholic song. It was a chef's kiss moment when Charley laid down the cello parts.

'Disembody'

Disembody is a spiky wee song that starts quite sweet but quickly turns sour. It has some really nice musical elements that diffuse the lyrical aspects, like the synth lines and subtle Rhodes. I really love Jono’s distorted guitar solo in the outro which we made him improvise on the spot

'Darcie'

Laura wrote the main riff for this song so we named it after her middle name, Darcie. Thematically, it’s a bit of a jealousy song but we have a lot of fun playing this one live. Who doesn’t love a minute long outro? We also made a very silly cat video to accompany it.

'Someone Else'

We initially wrote Someone Else to be the last track of the album because it felt like the conclusion of a really good book. It didn’t end up being that way but it nicely sums up many aspects of the songs on the record. It’s shimmery shoegaze at its finest and we’ve enjoyed reimagining the song for a live setting.

'Saturn Return'

We were skeptical about making the title track the closing song but we think it makes sense in this context. Saturn Return is a period of change and difficulty, and the songs were overarchingly written with that in mind. This song ties a tidy little bow around the whole album and marks the start of a new chapter.

'Saturn Return' is out now on major streaming services — order the vinyl LP edition HERE.