THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For a good few years, it looked shaky as to whether Soft Play’s Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent would ever be able to find their way forward to this moment. To say a lot has happened in the intervening years is an understatement. Their friendship faltered, their creativity halted, they were rocked by grief and mental health issues, and when they did emerge, it was with side projects: Laurie’s Larry Pink The Human and Isaac’s Baby Dave. Step by step, however — via time, conversation, therapy and a positive new band identity — they got back on track.
The result is Heavy Jelly, a product of the pair’s new sense of love and appreciation for their singular bond, which is both held front and centre and the defining inspiration behind what is clearly a new career high. Heavy Jelly is the gleeful sound of a band audibly having the best time they’ve had in years. Named after a Jiu-Jitsu instructor who told Laurie to act like Heavy Jelly by means of explaining how much resistance to give in a demonstration, the turn of phrase also mirrors the duo’s worldview, “life is heavy, but it’s also funny,” summarises Isaac.
Laurie says, “We’re not gonna be the band that leads your protest march really eloquently, but we might be the band that motivates you to go down the gym or start doing something productive, and that’s important too,” he continues, “what we can do is sing about relatable things and share that with people.” Isaac sums things up neatly: “Don’t try and be like everyone else. Just do what you want and have fun.”
Upping the ante from the album’s previous singles, Punk’s Dead and Mirror Muscles, Soft Play bring a playful sense of humour to the granite grind of Act Violently. Its tightrope taut heaviness and the clean punch of its production takes its cues from nu-metal, but stylistically, its classic, smearing Brit punk with a hardcore attack heightened by anarchic unpredictability. Its story is inspired by an experience that’s replicated in every town across the country on a daily basis — the pair almost getting hit by a lunatically out-of-control e-scooter as they stepped out of album sessions at The Libertines’ Albion Rooms studio in Margate.
Laurie adds, “The whole walk back to the studio, we discussed our contempt for e-scooter drivers. They should be illegal. They shouldn’t be on the road. They should need a theory test. It was just a rich well to discuss, and the song’s about that.”
The Act Violently video very directly visualises the track’s narrative. In the band’s hometown of Tunbridge Wells, Isaac is plagued by the same e-scooter wherever he goes: First almost splattering him as he leaves a shop, then knocking his phone out of his hand in the park and then coming close to running him over on a zebra crossing. Eventually Isaac snaps and vows to cast his vengeance vigilante-style, like Kent’s answer to Travis Bickle. But there’s a twist in the tale…
Formerly known as Slaves, Soft Play have made an indelible impact and sliced their own niche in the U.K. music scene, achieving three Top 10 albums, gold certification, a Mercury Prize nomination, headlining Alexandra Palace, and even working with Mike D of Beastie Boys.”
