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There is no shortcut to the magic of a band of life-long musicians with a shared history, no easy way to duplicate those creative years spent absorbing and sweating out the changing tides of a rich local music scene. Soft No, the debut EP from the Philadelphia-based project of the same name, is a record that brims with the life and talent of Scott Signorino, Allie Lannutti, Austin Lotz, Jon Martello, and Kate Lowe; five artists who spent a significant part of their lives sharing bills, sharing bands, sharing high school classes with one another’s siblings, and living across from each other as children. Such threads weave on and on and similarly, Soft No’s songwriting process is complex and interwoven, with many of its members playing instruments that were previously unfamiliar to them and writing together in ways that allow each of them an avenue for expression previously unexplored.
Soft No first began to form in February of 2023 with a remote collaboration between Signorino and Lotz, who would go on to write the guitar riffs and music for all five of the tracks on the EP. They then brought in Lannutti to compose the lyrics, vocal melodies, and bass parts, to which Jon Martello added drums and Lowe keyboard and synth textures. The record is a fusion of the five musicians, their stories and lives folding into one another seamlessly.
“I go by my intuition of what I think Scott and Austin are feeling.” Lannutti says of her lyrical process, which finds her reacting to the wordless communication of emotion from Signorino and Lotz and tapping into her own personal and intimate experiences of anger, sorrow, and nostalgia. The EP’s five songs smolder with the intensity of complex, yet somehow synchronistic expression. In “Descender,” for example, Lannutti explores the grief of losing her father, her emotional journey running parallel with that of Signorino, who wrote his songs on the record in the aftermath of his own mother’s passing. This connection became all the more potent with Signorino’s father’s passing as the group was in the final stage of tracking of the record.
“The grief is incredibly raw given its recency, and multi-layered given a complex family dynamic.” Signorino says. “Finishing this release became important to me in an existential way that I can’t really quantify.”
The depth and urgency of the music is apparent in the record, a product of the Philadelphia music scene of which Scott, Allie, Austin, Jon, and Kate have been an integral part for many years. Over the years the crew has straddled the hardcore, alt-rock, metal, and shoegaze scenes, and these influences color their heavy, 90’s-alternative-tinged songs and turn Soft No into a project that isn’t so easily defined. What is apparent is the love with which the songs are written and performed, and the joyful but undeniable importance of the project.
“We never want this band to ever feel like an obligation.” Signorino says. “It should be taken seriously because it’s representative of our effort we put into music, but as soon as it starts to feel like a drag I don’t want to do it any more.” The eponymous EP was produced by the band and Mark Watter (Alex G, Hop Along). It was engineered by Watter and Richie Devon at Headroom Studios in Philadelphia, PA, with additional engineering from John Lowe. Members of Soft No have shared the stage with bands such as Metz, The Menzingers, Balance and Composure, and Nothing.
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