Soft Center is the project of childhood friends Gina Pensiero and Sean Lango, who met and started playing music in the suburbs of New Jersey and kept in touch throughout the years, cycling through different bands, moving to New York, and eventually landing on the idea of collaborating with each other for their debut album together, No Pattern. They blend acoustic guitar with amped-up keyboards and a sugary, hard-hitting energy, and their songwriting trends towards the darker sides of the psyche.

The album’s lead single, “East Jesus,” is a runaway song about the inevitable apocalypse. “Things here are always changing/ It can be hard to get your bearings,” Pensiero sings. “Left for dead by the state/ So pack up your belongings/ Get a can, but take some kindling/ Let’s you and me make a date.”

The sort of escape she’s talking about is bittersweet, leaving a crumbling society behind in favor of a forced wanderlust, but the driving nature of the song also makes that sort of break seem appealing: “We’ll watch the world go up in flames with others of our kind/ East Jesus, summer 2029.”

Listen below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Alt Endings”
02 “Loose Ends”
03 “No Pattern”
04 “Fireworks”
05 “Undressed”
06 “2008”
07 “Open For Business”
08 “Vote”
09 “East Jesus”
10 “Temple”

No Pattern is out 10/19. Pre-order it here.