SURPRISES GALORE! Third interview in just a couple of days and the second week with a surprise interview with a Pelagic Records artist (man, we should talk about deeper collabs, guys!) and why? Because SOM rocks! We could end our little hype text here, but just to make it clear, their new record Let The Light In will be out on March 14 (next week Friday) and as it’s a really cool record we decided to give the record a “Special” treatment by combining a review and interview! Enjoy!

Listening to SOM‘s new record, one thing becomes apparent pretty quickly – these guys listened to their fair share of Grunge and Shoegaze in the days, for the guitar lines have and the vocals have a certain Shoegazey quality about them and some of the structures remind me of the dreamier moments of crunchy Grunge. That being said, with their sometimes very spherical elements, SOM surely created their own sound, that in parts remind me of a very Post-Rock-version of A Perfect Circle.

Is it a bad thing, when reviewing a band and starting with comparisons? Maybe, depending on the comparisons and the intention behind it. Are the references good or bad doesn’t really matter, as one can use the comparison “these guys have listened to Cocteau Twins a lot” for example in a negative way, meaning ”they have not developed their own sound” or ”they took that as a basis and went their own way”. In the case of SOM the idea is surely a positive one, because the guys have definitely listened to a lot of stuff BUT created their own amalgam from these roots.

When the riffs rise from the very start and greet the listener embracingly, it becomes clear how well-versed they are in what they do, but also in what each member brings to the band. Not only is this already their third full-length but the members are experienced musicians for they have played in various outfits that I do not want to drop for one reason: SOM are SOM are SOM! Their sound is easily detectable – just listen to a track like ”The Place I Belong” - there is a lot of good, heavy riffing underneath the warm spherical passages and the vocals have that hauntingly beautiful dreamy quality, shy and a bit hushed but still strong; bit like Midwestern Emo used to be.

This dream-like thing goes through the whole record in a sense because it clearly is a Covid/Post-Covid record – if you want to know a bit more about the connection between the record and the period it was conceived in check our interview below. However, one can be said, the positive vibe that flows through the record certainly is a reaction to the circumstances, providing a bit of a silver lining on the horizon. And the record surely does that – just take the wonderful build-up of ”Chemicals”. That the guys surely know how to incorporate electronic elements into their sound should be clear since they released a whole EP full of wonderful Depeche Mode covers. These parts are definitely not new to SOM’s soundscapes but they seem a bit more nuanced and yet more poignant on this record.

The only left to ask right here, right now is whether these allusions to Brit-Pop are incidental – I mean ”Chemicals” or ”Don’t Look Back” one could be a Bush-title, the second one a reference to Oasis… maybe we need another interview?

Let the Light In, this wonderful piece of floating Post-Metal will be officially released on Friday March 14, and you can still pre-order the record from Pelagic Records (for EU residents), or from A Thousand Arms (if you are located in the USA) or from Wild Thing Music Store (when living “Down Under”)!

Now enjoy our talk with Mike and Ben and do not forget to listen to Let the Light In on its release day!