Chicago Music Premiere: “Song for Ellie Mae,” Soft Candy’s HoZac Records Debut
Retro-psych pop-rockers are here to melt your ears off
by Katie Ingegneri
Behold: Legendary Chicago rock label HoZac Records has some hot new releases for late summer 2016, including a new 7" from Chicago’s own Soft Candy, featuring this song that you’re hearing here first: “Song for Ellie Mae.” Okay, it’s on Spotify and iTunes, but YOU’RE LISTENING TO IT HERE FIRST.
Soft Candy is my latest Chicago garage rock-pop obsession, although I still have yet to see them live, despite them playing shows around town quite frequently. Blending 60s-style vocals and harmonies (think Zombies, think Beatles, think Byrds) with garage rock and psych in an incredibly catchy and sophisticated way, while evoking some of my modern-retro favorites like the experimentations of MGMT and Foxygen, I’m pretty damn pleased to be premiering their track digitally here. This is definitely a band I’ll be keeping my eye on — I’m a serious sucker for retro rock styles, as any faithful reader of Houseshow knows, and while many bands that I follow in Logan Square and Chicago fit that bill to varying degrees, Soft Candy seems 110% committed to this retro-psych sound, and needless to say, I’m digging it.
The official record release show is at everyone’s favorite rock n roll venue, Cole’s in Logan Square, on Saturday, August 20th, with Shah Jahan and Voluptuals opening. I gotta go pick me up a copy of this 7" from my trusty garage proprietors Bric a Brac Records, although you can also order from the HoZac site.
Check out a live performance of the song below:
Read more about Soft Candy at the HoZac Records site:
