Freshly-hailed as Stereogum’s Album of The Week, Norwich-based post-hardcore trio Other Half today release their second album, Soft Action, via Big Scary Monsters (American Football, Cursive, The Get Up Kids, Meat Wave).
Album focus track ‘In My Wires’ is out now on streaming services, with vocalist/guitarist Cal saying of the song: “In My Wires switches back to the viewpoint of the characters from our first record. It finds them doing exactly what they were doing before—haplessly vying for something bigger, squabbling in a druggy haze on bedroom floors.”
“It’s about how massive and cinematic things feel in particular moments and how quickly those moments can come crumbling down. In the song, it's a lost mobile phone that undoes a night rubbing shoulders (and gums) with the who’s who of local undesirables. Obviously it’s tongue-in-cheek but I’m sure at its core it’s a universal sentiment about the fragility of life or something.”
Hot on the heels of a raucous run of UK tour dates with Modern Rituals, the trio have also announced a fresh March/April 2023 UK co-headline tour with Pittsburgh, USA emo band Short Fictions.
The band released their debut album, Big Twenty, via Venn Records (Gallows, Bob Vylan, Witch Fever) in 2020. A sprawling, violent slice-of-life, the release garnered praise from a host of tastemakers, with The Line Of Best Fit calling Big Twenty’s vivid world “volatile and dark, but also enthralling to hear”.
Recorded at Sickroom Studios in Narborough, Norfolk with longtime-producer Owen Turner, second album Soft Action sounds exactly how it should—capturing the atmosphere of a band designed to be seen live by way of its unforgiving garb and lack of bells-and-whistles.
A record that finds the band distilling the sneering punk and sardonic storytelling that characterised their first album, Soft Action amplifies the most melodic and dissonant parts of their sound. The discordant squall of Sonic Youth, the ragged hooks of Pixies, and the searing intensity of bands like Converge, all underpinned with the wiry vocal interplay of singers Cal and Sophie.
The album’s lead singles ‘Like A Dog’/’Slab Thick’ and follow up ‘Jollies With The Boys’ are out now and the record has been turning heads both at home in the UK and further afield with praise from international press including The iNewspaper, Kerrang! Magazine, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Vanyaland, VISIONS, The Line of Best Fit, Razorcake and more.
Live, the band draw from the energy of post-hardcore luminaries like Drive Like Jehu and Fugazi, whilst never straying too far from the hooks of bands like Superchunk and Les Say Fav.
The trio recently completed a Revive Live tour with labelmates Cultdreams and a UK co-headline tour with Modern Rituals, and have also announced December 2022 support slots with Ducking Punches and Johnny Foreigner, as well as appearances at Jamie Lenman’s Lenmania III, and Manchester Punk Festival 2023.
Second album Soft Action is out now via Big Scary Monsters
OTHER HALF Live Dates:
- Dec 2nd - London - Dulwich Hamlet Clubhouse
- Dec 3rd - Norwich - Lowell *SOLD OUT*
- Dec 09th - Norwich - Waterfront (w/ Ducking Punches)
- Dec 17th - Birmingham - Hare & Hounds (w/ Johnny Foreigner)
- Dec 18th - Manchester - Club Academy (Lenmania III w/ Jamie Lenman)
- Mar 20th - Newcastle - Lubber Fiend *
- Mar 21st - Glasgow - Hug & Pint *
- Mar 22nd - Sheffield - Record Junkee *
- Mar 23rd - Manchester - Gullivers *
- Mar 24th - Brighton - The Prince Albert *
- Mar 25th - London - Shacklewell Arms *
- Mar 26th - Norwich - Voodoo Daddys *
- Mar 28th - Leeds - Hyde Park Book Club *
- Mar 29th - Nottingham - JT Soar *
- Mar 30th - Birmingham - Hare & Hounds 2 *
- Mar 31st - Bristol - The Lanes (Free Show)
- Apr 01st - Oxford - Port Mahon *
- Apr 07th - 9th - Manchester Punk Festival
* w/ Short Fictions