With members from bands like Krokofant, Red Kite, WIZRD, Grand General and more, Soft Ffog returns with their 2nd album “Focus” on May the 2nd. But those curious to hear what the band has in store for them need wait no longer, because today “Oh Jimi”, has been released as a single, which can be streamed or downloaded from various services at
This is what the band has to say about it:
Oh Jimi starts of with a heavy riff, then transitions into a train ride to Bluesville, the guitar solo part is probably the only place the «Jimi» reference is detectable, the blues’esque solo rounds up with another heavy riff, spaced out with echo laden Rhodes solo glazed in acid.
The song concludes with doom riff that’s falling apart as it goes, just as a reminder that the end is nye. (PS. End og the song, not the world)
Regarding the new album “Focus”, it’s more progrock than ever – The Soft is Ffoggier and the Ffog is softer. Highly influenced by 70s underground heroes like Camel and Focus, sprinkled with that old jazz dust, this new record should satisfy all you 70s nostalgics with a jazz tickle out there!
The combined members of Soft Ffog have probably played with everyone in the Norwegian jazz scene, but here they do their own thing. All songs are composed by Tom Hasslan, and the band is playing his compositions like there’s no tomorrow. But then again, there will probably be a tomorrow, and then you buy the record, and «YoU Will Be happy»!!
Line-up:
– Tom “Zappa-finger” Hasslan on the guitars
– Axel “Pheel the Collin’s” Skalstad on the buckets
– Trond “Geezer Jeezuz” Frønes on the bass
– Vegard “Wake(up the)man” Lien Bjerkan on all the keyboards in the world
Focus was recorded by Christian Engfelt at Studio Paradiso. Produced by Tom Hasslan/Soft Ffog and Christian Engfelt, and mastered by Espen Høydalsvik at OSLO:Fuzz.
With cover art by Einar Evju, layout and logo by Tom Korsvold, the track listing for the album is as follows:
1. Camel
2. Pocus
3. Focus
4. Oh Jimi
“Soft Ffog” will be released in CD and LP formats and is now available to pre-order from
Webshop: https://www.karismarecords.no/record-label/is-it-jazz-records/
Bandcamp: https://softffog.bandcamp.com/album/focus
SOFT FFOG’s genesis in 2016 was somewhat unusual in that it came about as a one-off gig commissioned by the Kongsberg Jazz Festival. Despite the success of this event, the band did not get the momentum it needed to be a proper working entity, and, combined with the busy schedules of the respective musicians, each with their other bands and projects, SOFT FFOG only played gigs every now and then. Playing live, did however, help to define and refine the band’s sound, so much so, infact, that founder Tom Hasslan decided that 2020 was the right time for SOFT FFOG to record their first album. Now, the band is well established, and the band will be seen at different venues in the months following the release of “Focus”.
