To truly connect with Something Soft, the sophomore album from Irish trio M(h)aol (pronounced “male”), you need to be firmly grounded in your skin. It requires a kind of emotional stamina, one that comes not from youthful angst, but from a seasoned readiness to confront discomfort and sit with contradiction. In the wider post-punk landscape, where much of the current wave is increasingly defined by polish and leans towards ironic detachment, M(h)aol stand apart. Their sound is boldly unvarnished, closer to the raw nerve of early art-punk and noise rock, but it does not romanticise rebellion. Instead, their music is fully stripped of nostalgia. It is abrasive, committed, deeply personal, and purposeful.
The trio of Constance Keane (drums/vocals, she/her), Jamie Hyland (bass/vocals, she/her), and Sean Nolan (guitar, he/him), has found a tight dynamic and a chemistry that crackles through every song. They have sharpened their focus into a tight, intense, and jagged sonic landscape. Their newest record is lean yet loaded: abrasive guitar, resonant basslines, and drums that pulse between heartbeat and alarm, shaping tension into something compelling and cathartic. There is almost an oppressive quality to the production, too. Everything is close, urgent, pressing with kinetic anxiety.
There is a tension in every track, like something essential is trying to claw its way out. On “Pursuit”, the now mundane terror of walking home at night is translated into a furious wall of distortion and fuzz, embodying fear rather than simply narrating it. Elsewhere, “I Miss My Dog” morphs grief into rage, beginning in a slow swell of feedback and restrain that surges forward into a collapse that is both devastating and exhilarating.
The album’s politics are ever present but never didactic. There is humour here, too — caustic, sardonic, maybe a bit unhinged at times, but always tethered to lived experience. At times, the record stretches itself to the edge of overstaying, but that discomfort feels deliberate . Something Soft asks you to sit in the mess and endure. It might not be easy, but it is necessary.
And yet, rage is never traded for spectacle. The album’s power lies in its restraint as much as its chaos. Repetition, stark instrumentation, and emotional abrasion work in tandem to deliver something raw and harrowing, as well as catchy and coherent. M(h)aol are reacting to the world and forcing you to feel every inch of it with them, too.
Follow M(h)aol on merge records | soundcloud | spotify | youtube | bandcamp
Upcoming May Tour Dates
May 16 — M(h)aol Album Launch Show
London, United Kingdom
May 18 — Le Botanique
Bruxelles, Belgium
May 28 — M(h)aol + Junk Drawer + Cola
Belfast, United Kingdom
May 29 — Junk Drawer + Cola + M(h)aol
Londonderry, United Kingdom
May 30 — Cola + M(h)aol + Junk Drawer
Galway, Ireland