The difference between song and soundscaping isn’t always that much. Yes, on one side, you have pieces of music that feel filmic, wide-screen and cinematic; on the other, songs full of groove, lyrics, and a more obvious dynamic. Rarely does a piece tick the boxes on both sides of that balance. Rarely, but not never. ‘I’d Rather Fly’ is one of those exceptions.
It’s an instrumental, sure, so it has no lyrics… that’s a given… but even instrumental songs speak; they just do it in less obvious ways. In the case of this single, we find Soft as Hell painting pictures in our mind. Whereas lyrics tend to take you by the hand and lead you to the obvious and intended conclusions, soundscapes such as this allow room for you to make up your own mind about what it all means.
And so here, we find a cool blend of soaring synths and twanging riffs, perhaps describing an apocalyptic spaghetti western landscape, one where the old frontier town seems to sit somewhere between what was and what might be, a known past and a wide open future. To me, it feels like someone is setting the scene for something like Stephen King‘s Dark Tower series of books, or a proposed film of Michael Moorcock‘s trippy sci-fi. (Someone really needs to put his work on the big screen; perhaps this might be the catalyst.) But, as I say, it is for each listener to take from these sonic cues and draw their own conclusions.
It is a track where Floydian drift meets more driven musical drama, where the sound of a nostalgic, analog psych-past meets futuristic digital potential. It is at turns serene and soothing, yet funky and full of groove, and in places, reminiscent of what has gone before, whilst simultaneously adventurous and forward-thinking. For every familiar move or groove, there are three other touches of original creativity.
And, by the time you need a break from this track, which won’t be for a while, there will be an album along in the summer, exploring the hidden depths and sonic tides of this will certainly hold you over until then.