Summer Spotlight: Sofy Major

From within the biomechanical badlands of Clermont-Ferrand, the violently addictive French noise rock trio, SOFY MAJOR, arises with their triumphant third LP, Waste, the album expressing more raw melody, passionate diversity, and full-force drive from the band yet.

SOFY MAJOR’s Waste LP was handled by nearly the same cohorts as their preceding Idolize LP, yet under radically different circumstances. Having relocated to Brooklyn, New York to record Idolize with Andrew Schneider at Translator Audio, Hurricane Sandy waged war on the region demolishing the entire studio and all of the band’s gear. Cohort and labelmate Dave Curran helped relocate to Brooklyn’s Seaside Lounge and Spaceman Sound to complete the recording sessions Sandy attempted to thwart. With Waste, the band enlisted Curran to produce the album at Black Box Studio in France. The output was then mixed by Schneider at Translator Audio in Brooklyn and mastered by Carl Saff. With just under forty-two minutes of new material, Waste sees SOFY MAJOR charting new boundaries, and at a more relaxed pace. While not shying away from their rampant outbursts completely, the raging appears more subdued, with slightly more melodious sensibilities enveloping its delivery. The grimy Unsane/Harvey Milk/Hammerhead-influenced Big-Muff sonic core of the band’s delivery is here fused to a rocked-out underbelly analogous to the output of Coliseum, Rising, Floor, and the like. Whack, sci-fi artistry courtesy of Gerald Jay dominates the layout of Waste, and it’s fucking cool looking.