Over two years in the making, SOFT-CORE is the third album from New York City’s My Robot Friend. The album features a diverse array of collaborations with artists such as Alison Moyet, Dean Wareham, Zombie Nation, and Outmessage. My Robot Friend is a musical and performance art project led by Howard Robot, and aided by various collaborators and co-conspirators (human and otherwise).

Howard Robot began his musical career performing and recording with the New York City band Princess in the late 1990s. The members of the band included Autojulie3000 (violin, keyboard, vocals), Howard Robot (acoustic guitar, bass, vocals), and Miguel Gutierrez (acoustic guitar, bass, violin, keyboard, vocals). Princess almost signed on to the legendary label Too Pure (P.J. Harvey, Stereolab, Mouse On Mars), but they broke up before the contract was inked. 

The album is released in the UK on 16 November, 2009.

Just recently, I’ve been bombarded by (excellent) music of a darker hue. Now I love ‘dark’ but occasionally it’s nice to listen to something lighter, something even faintly humorous, and if it’s distinctive, all the better. Welcome to My Robot Friend… ‘Robot High School’ opens in mystical electronic disco manner, with blips and muffled beats, before opening out into super-melodic song that mixes dark and light very cleverly. Here’s a song about the education system churning out stereotypical, role model youth - little robots… The arrangement is magical, and especially when the upbeat and fast-paced disco vibe suddenly meets  thrashed rock guitars. Like it. ‘Misfits Fight Song’ (featuring Outmessage) is a pacey pop song with retro style vocal harmonies and another monster-truck melody. ‘By Your Side’ (featuring Dean Wareham) travels at the pace of a speeding bullet driven by a relentless drum rhythm. Mr Robot’s voice is smoothness personified, the underlying instrumental arrangement is both novel and effective. ‘Failure’ is about, well, failure and is communicated in 60’s pop style with quirky instrumental passages, but the killer touch is the sonic-boom speed vocal towards the end of the song.

‘Boyfriend’ offers a solid, pounding dance beat, while ‘The Short Game’ is a synth-driven dance tune featuring Zombie Nation. ‘Waiting’ features Alison Moyet on lead vocal atop another driving dance beat. It’s a pleasant enough radio-friendly pop song with single potential. ‘Astronaut’ featuring Dean Wareham is a standout track here with its darker, mellow ambience and powerful melody. ‘Mean’ is a contemplative song with more serious undertones and is another winner. ‘Sleepwalkers’ is the best album track. It sways gently and darkly with the most attractive solo and multi-layered vocals, with some of the most pleasant keyboard passages. Instrumental subtlety is the strength of this track, even when it begins to build towards the end.

A charming and better acoustic version of ’Waiting’ arrives with s stronger emotional vibe. Then, finally, there’s the excellent secret track, ‘23 Minutes In Brussels’ which features a pounding, rhythmic instrumental underbelly and rockier vibe. There’s little not to like about this album, although I do wonder what precisely it’s trying to achieve. It’s certainly different and clever in the way it mixes retro with modern, dance with rock, acoustic with electronic. Ultimately, I like it enough to play a couple of standout tracks on my radio show.

3.5/5