Shutters View is a gorgeous expounding of evocation and melancholy
Based in San Francisco, Soft Pastels is a solo project taking inspiration from new wave, cold wave, and dream pop. Shutters View is his first full-length album in just over five years, following the release of his 2017 album No Loss. Flawlessly mixed by Matt Messore (Cathedral Bells, Midi Memory), Shutters View is a gorgeous expounding of evocation and melancholy, continuously oscillating between the act of hearkening back to new/cold wave pasts as well as beckoning towards modern dream pop futures.
Opener “They Run” and closer “Knock on the Door” are both beautifully textured instrumental tracks; the former, dark, mysterious, and the slightest bit somber, eventually merges into the latter, a lush, full expanse of glitchy, metallic synth that seems to carry within it the feelings explored in the previous nine tracks. It’s soon clear, though, that the closer is yet another introduction; there are four literal knocks at the end, a motion that signals something like opportunity despite the suddenness by which it occurs.
Listen / Stream - Cassette Tape