That's My Jam!: Soft Metals' Chilly Italo Disco

The-Dream once pondered a similar question as Portland's Soft Metals do on the first single from its forthcoming The Cold War Melts EP. While the R&B superstar wrestled with his proclivity for booty and Benjamins, Soft Metals' singer Patricia Hall wonders if she's actually in love or if it's the music that's moving her emotions. On "Love or Music," producer Ian Hicks delivers some frigid synth tones and straightforward disco-house beats beneath Hall's even-keeled vocal performance -- giving Soft Metals a similar sound to fellow Italo disco revivalists (and Portlanders) Glass Candy and Chromatics, but with a bit of Hercules & Love Affair's '90s house leanings. The vintage-sounding pop track leads off Soft Metals debut, five-song EP, which is set to be released August 10 via Brooklyn's Captured Tracks. I'd suggest keeping an eye out for that release, and for the next time these Pacific Northwesters traipse down the coast to perform in our city.