There’s something quietly defiant about Soft Lad, the new album from Johnno Casson. Built from tape hiss, broken rhythms, rubber-string basslines and emotional fallout, it’s the kind of record that sounds genuinely lived in — handmade music stitched together from survival, introspection and hard-earned optimism. Casson has always occupied his own peculiar corner of the UK underground. Across a career linked to collaborators like Andrew Weatherall, Adrian Sherwood and the orbit of Mo’ Wax, his work as Snippet has balanced DIY eccentricity with soulful songwriting. But Soft Lad may well be his most personal and emotionally resonant release to date. Opening with woozy textures and dusty analogue warmth, the album unfolds like a late-night diary recorded onto worn-out cassette tape. The production is deliberately stripped-back — reel-to-reel beats crackle beneath warped synths and vocal loops, while melodies drift in and out like half-remembered dreams. There are shades of Robert Wyatt in the vulnerable honesty, flashes of Baxter Dury in the off-kilter cool, and moments that recall the lo-fi imagination of Bibio or Beck at his most reflective.
Key track “Too Many Snakes In The Long Grass” slinks along with paranoid groove and lyrical bite, sounding like a public service announcement broadcast from a smoky basement club at 2am. “Sometimes I Fade” is among the album’s emotional high points — melancholic, tender and painfully human, capturing the exhaustion of chronic illness without ever collapsing into self-pity. Elsewhere, “Let’s Talk About Us (The Earthly Delights Remix)” introduces a hazy Balearic shimmer that lifts the album into warmer territory, while “Panama” drifts with hypnotic ease and understated beauty. By the time “I Keep Running Away From Myself” arrives, Casson has fully drawn listeners into his world: fractured but hopeful, bruised but still moving forward.
What makes Soft Lad particularly compelling is the story behind it. Following illness that damaged his fingers, Casson was forced to completely rethink his creative process. Working with minimalist tools — including a battered old iMac, a Kala U-Bass, loops, samples and rough-edged synth textures — he returned to the instinctive cut-and-paste methods of his early years. The result is an album that feels refreshingly unfiltered in an age of overproduced perfection. There’s also an unmistakable warmth running through these songs. Even in its darker moments, Soft Lad carries a sense of resilience and humanity. Music here becomes medicine, comfort and escape all at once. Tom Robinson once described Snippet as “A National Indie Treasure,” and on the strength of Soft Lad, it’s difficult to argue otherwise. This is canny Essex electronica with heart, humour and soul — an unpretentious triumph from an artist still quietly pushing forward on his own terms.
Standout Tracks
- Too Many Snakes In The Long Grass
- Sometimes I Fade
- Let’s Talk About Us (The Earthly Delights Remix)
- Panama
- I Keep Running Away From Myself
RIYL
Hak Baker • Ren • Damon Albarn • Air • Bibio
Listen & Follow
- Soft Lad on Bandcamp
- Johnno Casson Official Website
- Snippet on Spotify
- Snippet on SoundCloud
- Snippet on Instagram
- Snippet on Facebook
- Snippet on YouTube