Albums to watch

The Soft Cavalry

The Soft Cavalry

The Soft Cavalry

Debut full-length album from Steve Clarke featuring his wife Rachel Goswell (Slowdive) and produced by his brother Michael Clarke

ADM rating[?]

7.3

Label
Bella Union
UK Release date
05/07/2019
US Release date
05/07/2019
  1. 9.0 |   God Is In The TV

    This album cannot be praised enough and deserves to be heard by everyone, everywhere
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  2. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    The Soft Cavalry have arrived – finally, after years of Clarke struggling to find that push – but the wait is worth it. This is a tremendous album that provides a new favourite each time you listen
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  3. 8.0 |   The Observer

    The band begin to breathe when they venture off-piste and concentrate on crescendos and longer instrumental codas: Pink Floyd by way of Secret Machines
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  4. 8.0 |   Uncut

    They've crafted a cerebral yet effortless vast and cinematic ode to love and new beginnings, one that splits the difference between shoegaze and synthpop. Print edition only

  5. 8.0 |   The Skinny

    As The Soft Cavalry, Steve Clarke and Slowdive's Rachel Goswell present a highly-textured and intricate album that tackles the paradoxes of adulthood
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  6. 8.0 |   NME

    Somewhere between shoegaze and synth-pop, tackling frustration, anxiety and confusion, this powerful debut shows it's never too late to follow your dreams
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  7. 8.0 |   The Independent

    A slow-burning triumph
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  8. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    A stately, heartfelt gem
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  9. 8.0 |   Clash

    The album as a whole is smooth, straightforward, and well-ordered, and bears lyrics that are an ode to both Goswell’s and Clarke’s musical genius
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  10. 7.2 |   Paste Magazine

    There’s a pleasing weightlessness wending its way through The Soft Cavalry’s 12 tracks, alternately augmented and offset by Clarke’s lyrics, ranging from tender to grim to destructive
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  11. 7.0 |   Exclaim

    The Soft Cavalry is the sound of Clarke coming into his own as a songwriter, enriched by Goswell's contributions
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  12. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    Another post-reunion project for Slowdive's Rachel Goswell. In collaborator Steve Clarke she has discovered a talented songwriter and married him, no less
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  13. 6.0 |   Spectrum Culture

    Rachel Goswell and Steve Clarke’s voices often meld together beautifully. But sometimes they try to do too much with too little
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  14. 6.0 |   The Arts Desk

    There are gentle hooks everywhere, and there's no sign of filler right to the end of the 12 tracks
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  15. 6.0 |   Mojo

    There is quiet drama here but sometimes The Soft Cavalry struggle to project it beyond their own moody boundaries, or to find that extra charge. Print edition only

  16. 6.0 |   Evening Standard

    His belated debut is full of unhurried balladry, washes of guitar and occasional swoops into dramatic, everything-but-the-kitchen sink climaxes
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