Soup and the Purees - Relative Risks

Soup and the Purees

Relative Risks
self-released; 2014

3.7 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Soup and the Purees is a fundraiser side project of experienced musicians who want to go uncredited. The altruistic members of the band are putting a 100% of the proceeds from their release Relative Risks to Doctors Without Borders to fight the spread of Ebola in West Africa. 

Relative Risks is a fun, original, well-written album anyway you look at it. These guys sound like a combination of Ween, The Strokes and The Beatles with a tinge of surf rock. It’s original music that is quirky yet easy to embrace. Whoever is singing sounds a bit like Lou Reed at times and is very easy to enjoy. His loose, relaxed delivery is easy to enjoy. It doesn't hurt that the melodies are infectious as any formidable pop song in recent memory.

The band gets in and out quickly. Most of the songs are between two and three minutes. They move at a good pace that never feels arduous. They kicks thing off with one of the more lively numbers entitled “My Eyes.” The guitars are relatively clean and lay low in the mix as they move around quickly going from one transition to the next. Shades of brilliance hit when they sing, “my eyes so blind so blind I can.”

“Simon Says” is just as catchy if not more so. The music contains tinges of ska and surf while sounding fun and loose.  The third track “Breakfast” is downright funny as the singer goes into detail about the do’s and don’t when making breakfast. It’s actually laugh out loud funny and the backup singers were the cherry on top. I don’t think there were any clear highlights amongst the batch of songs since they were all good but “Stilyagi (Hipsters)” certainly tickled me the right way. It may seem a little far-fetched but I heard a bit of Lennon here.

Relative Risks is an incredibly unpretentious, enjoyable album that I can’t recommend enough. Good tunes plus giving to a good cause. It doesn't get much better than that my friends.

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