While having previously issued echo-blown tunes under the name Catwalk, indie artist Nic Hessler has opted to go by his birth name on his next effort, Soft Connections. His official solo debut drops March 17 through New York's Captured Tracks imprint.
A press release for the record, which follows two Catwalk 7-inch releases and a singles collection on Captured Tracks, notes that the set "leaps and bounds away from Catwalk in terms of fidelity and depth." In addition to a more hi-fi sound, the singer-songwriter is said to be exploring Alex Chilton-styled power-pop and other assorted jangling influences like the Kinks and XTC.
The album came in the wake of Hessler's battle with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the peripheral nervous system. Guillain-Barré syndrome reportedly left the musician unable to play the guitar and had also left him partially paralyzed for a time before getting healthy enough to write and record again.
While presenting new solo material, the 12-song album also reinterprets Catwalk-era composition "(Please) Don't Break Me Down." You can check out the album's first teaser track, the sparkling "Hearts, Repeating," as well as a full tracklisting, down below.
Soft Connections:
1. I Feel Again
2. Hearts, Repeating
3. Expel Me
4. Permanent
5. Do You Ever?
6. All in the Night
7. All Around You
8. (Please) Don't Break Me
9. Moonlight Girl
10. Into the Twilight
11. Soon You'll See, Kristine
12. Soft Connections
A press release for the record, which follows two Catwalk 7-inch releases and a singles collection on Captured Tracks, notes that the set "leaps and bounds away from Catwalk in terms of fidelity and depth." In addition to a more hi-fi sound, the singer-songwriter is said to be exploring Alex Chilton-styled power-pop and other assorted jangling influences like the Kinks and XTC.
The album came in the wake of Hessler's battle with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the peripheral nervous system. Guillain-Barré syndrome reportedly left the musician unable to play the guitar and had also left him partially paralyzed for a time before getting healthy enough to write and record again.
While presenting new solo material, the 12-song album also reinterprets Catwalk-era composition "(Please) Don't Break Me Down." You can check out the album's first teaser track, the sparkling "Hearts, Repeating," as well as a full tracklisting, down below.
Soft Connections:
1. I Feel Again
2. Hearts, Repeating
3. Expel Me
4. Permanent
5. Do You Ever?
6. All in the Night
7. All Around You
8. (Please) Don't Break Me
9. Moonlight Girl
10. Into the Twilight
11. Soon You'll See, Kristine
12. Soft Connections
