Song of the Day: Soft Metals - Tell Me

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Tell Me” by Soft Metals from the 2013 album Lenses on Captured Tracks.

Soft Metals - Tell Me (MP3)

The Los Angeles-via-Portland duo of Patricia Hall and Ian Hicks compose art-damaged electronic music under the moniker Soft Metals. The duo met in spring 2009 over a shared love of early electronic music, and not long after, they had begun composing songs from their extended jam sessions on vintage synthesizers and drum machines. The duo's latest album, Lenses, contrasts their more experimental textural tendencies with dance song structures. "Tell Me" is an alluring fever dream of a track that juxtaposes Hall's smooth vocals over metallic synths, resulting in a dancefloor haze that's hard to deny. As Hall's lyrical requests drift around the clicking drum programming, Hicks lays out a series of heady textures that induce as much excitement as Hall produces calm. "Tell Me" is a rare thing: a four-on-the-floor electro burner that's easy to get lost in, even if a dancefloor isn't handy.

Soft Metals have a pair of Los Angeles dates this fall and they're working on a European tour for next spring. To hear about those dates when they're announced, keep an eye on the band's Facebook and website. Watch the video for Lenses' title track, which was co-directed by Patricia Hall and Eva Aguila, below.