Soft Hearted Scientists – 'Siberia' (My Kung Fu) Released 02/04/07

An unfathomable and disappointing amount of time has passed since a truly inspirational, idiosyncratic Welsh band has broken through to the UK mainstream. Cardiff three-piece Soft Hearted Scientists may not yet show signs of possessing the balls out nonchalance of Super Furry Animals, or the quirkiness of Gorkys Zygotic Mynci, but there’s an uplifting quality to ‘Siberia’ which sets it apart from the Welsh rock FM standard of The Automatic and Lostprophets. Instead, they’ve half-inched the opening chords from Boston’s ‘More Than A Feeling’, and mixed it with The Byrds ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!', and folk rock of Country Joe & The Fish. The results are a sprawling seven-minutes of harpsichords, hypnotic acoustic guitars and singer Nathan’s brooding vocals about “Siberia where your heart once lay” and “hummingbirds inside bonsai trees.” It’s a combination that will alienate the cynics – their aim perhaps - but this psych-tinged, stately ode to love lost but not forgotten hints at promising things for their forthcoming album, ‘Take Time to Wonder in a Whirling World.’