Musical fulfilment has arrived late for tour manager and sideman Steve Clarke. The Soft Cavalry is a new project with his wife Rachel Goswell of Slowdive.
A record documenting recovery and resilience, their debut at times reverberates with the coruscating post-rock dynamics of Goswell’s main band, her ghostly vocal to the fore on Passerby, but other musical moods prevail, too. Bulletproof’s strident disco beat and chiming arpeggios evoke New Order and Never Be Without You is a slice of breezy synth pop, the pair’s voices melding in sincere heart-warming fashion.
Elsewhere, the orchestration and thoughtful arrangements hint at an appreciation of sonic titans such as Pink Floyd and Talk Talk, Spiders and the closing The Ever Turning Wheel unfolding with cinematic majesty, the duo never sounding hurried. A powerful union.
8/10
Gary Walker