“Heart Made of Sound”
from the album Say No! to Being Cool, Say Yes to Being Happy
2007
iTunes
MP3 – “Heart Made of Sound” [right-click/save-as]
The not-so-ironically named SoftLightes are so stylistically defiant that the band’s hometown, Qatar, California, refuses to chase its “Q” with a “U.” Songwriter Ron Fountenberry, bassist Kristian Dunn, drummer Tim Fogarty and keyboardist Jeff Hibshman released their Public Enemy and Sesame Street inspired debut, Say No! to Being Cool, Say Yes to Being Happy, released on Modular People in February.
Instead of quitting music after Fountenberry and Dunn’s previous group, the Incredible Moses Leroy, bricked commercially, the pair shamelessly founded the SoftLightes to fuse every song that you never want to get caught singing in your car. Say No! to Being Cool, Say Yes to Being Happy is eleven lullabies for insomniacs. Lazy listeners might mistake tracks like “A Town Named Blue” for your momma’s pillow folk at the same time that attentive cats are laughing silly over Fountenberry’s hyper-jovial nonchalance.
In the band’s fetal stages circa 2004, the SoftLightes got a major push from Roots crew affiliate Cody ChesnuTT, who introduced the boys to Modular People head-honcho Steve Pavlovic.