Soft Reeds

To state the obvious: Writing a catchy song isn’t as easy as it looks. Dumping a bucket of glittering noise over solid pop-song structure doesn’t obscure Soft Reeds’ talent for churning out foot-tapping hooks; the local act just makes those hooks a bit more interesting. On Soft Reeds Are Bastards, the follow-up to last year’s three-song EP, frontman Ben Grimes’ stark, trembling vocals hover over the band’s rich orchestrations. Fizzy bubbles of harmony and dissonance float within summery rock riffs and rickety folk ballads. The band edges a sneakered toe into punk guitar noodling and hints at glam, and a raucous howl isn’t out of place on harder-hitting tracks like “The Sirens of Titan.” But bittersweet sensitivity is Soft Reeds’ strong suit, and Bastards‘ intricate, tightly wound melodies don’t stray far from crystalline indie pop.