Blucifer’s First Rodeo Review: Surprise Soup
I saw Surprise Soup as a late-night set at D3 Arts. I knew to expect quality musicianship, but I was thoroughly blown away. Surprise Soup has all the typical qualities of midwest emo — excellent chord progressions that are chock-full of sevenths, energizing bass, a Telecaster somewhere on the stage, thoughtful drum fills, baggy relaxed-fit pants, and twankly guitar riffs — though also has unique pacing, vocal tone, and songwriting. Most songs made me feel melancholic, but it was cathartic. Like dumping Draino into my clogged-up soul.
Surprise Soup’s songs never feel musically crowded, and there’s always another addicting chordal movement directing my body like a human marionette. I dare you to go to a show and listen to “Mountain Soup” live and try to stand still; your body won’t let you. At D3, their stage set up the drums in front-center who matched the strings’ passionate intensity and was a great performer. The vocal melodies, tone, and lyric choice felt intentional and well-practiced and make you want to wail alongside them. Surprise Soup overall played a polished set that could have entertained 50 or 50,000 people.
Song: Soup 1 (The Roxy)
My song review is on “Soup 1 (The Roxy),” but after hearing their “Live at Unit 5!” and Blucifer’s set I was tempted to also write about and “Soup 2,” arguably the most unjustifiably under-consumed soup on their menu.
“Soup 1 (The Roxy)”opens with an inviting casually-dancey drum fill, and the guitars’ harmonies fall in and fit like a glove. The vocals nearly sounds lazy, but you quickly realize the tone and lyrics are beautiful, timely, and the vibratos are well-hit – and it’s impossible to not get lost in your head if you’re an overthinker. The musicianship is a trance from start to finish. In the middle of the song, there’s a long music break, and they move through various musical highlights, with my favorite being these big emotional builds around 2:30 to 3:00., and these long music like in “Soup 1 (The Roxy”) feel like a staple of Surprise Soup’s music and live set. When the vocals return after the break, the vocalist really opens up his cords and artfully wails harmonies to the complex but simple-feeling instrumentation, and you ride a wave of music to the end of the song. And I love the ending acoustic guitar as a gorgeous and thoughtful ending to this song’s daydream.
Surprise Soup is a perfect name for this project. From start to finish, they serve up combinations of musical harmonies that feel both unexpected and fitting. It’s cozy, dance-y, midwest emo, and a unique sound that I’m excited to keep following. I should have been exhausted by the time Surprise Soup’s show ended, but I felt re-energized, somewhat sad, and ready to crush more shows.
Listen to their music and follow them here: Surprise Soup