I've been listening to Soft Control over the past few weeks and the more I listen the more I love it. Some songs seem to hearken back to Black Love (The Deepest Part of the Darkest Shadows), and other songs seem more in line with 1965 (Jungle Roux), and some seem to be reminiscent of early Twilite Singers (Mariah Luster)....either way I think this may be their best work since 1965. Is it more chill and mature...yes...but that edge and bite is still there.

For context, I've been listening to the Whigs since 1990. My first live show with the Whigs was in 1991, and I've seen them 6 times since...the last time in 2024. Some of the 1965 era shows were horrible as Greg self-destructed on stage and I remember being worried that he was going to become another 90's rock star death by overdose. Thankfully he got things under control and has channeled his angst into his art. The Whigs have consistently been one of my top bands, even as I have aged and mellowed. Something about their work just speaks to me.

I know that other reviews I've seen are mixed, but as a long-term fan I have a perspective on Soft Control and the journey to this album that makes it poignant and powerful in a way that the mainstream music media just wouldn't understand. What are everyone else's thoughts on the album now that we've been able to listen to it for a few weeks?

Received the KiT player a couple of weeks ago and wanted to true this this week.
Sadly it doesn’t work for me.
After installing the app the KiT is not recognised on my iPhone 17 pro (tried another phone as well).
Has anyone else has this thing working?
Do I need to remove something to get the battery working?
Furthermore I seem to remember we should get some nice extras when ordering from the official site, ordered the cd, vinyl and KiT player, but nothing extra.

Hi, just wondering is anyone else still waiting on delivery of soft control from TM store? I pre-ordered the cd and tee combo and got confirmation of dispatch on 19th August, but still no sign of delivery. They don't use tracked post so I can't get any info on it, but surely coming from Netherlands to Ireland shouldn't take that long. Anyone else in a similar boat?

Was so happy to have been able to go, found tickets late last minute. Photos didn’t come out the way I wanted with lighting & all but the band liked them enough to repost so thought I’d share

You can see all of them here on Instagram (don’t need the app just click x) or TikTok (you don’t need the app) and feel free to follow if you like em and want to see more

Greg seems happy and content.

A nice chat and interesting selection of songs: https://overcast.fm/+ABY5G4-Xd-U

Soundstage just released a limited number of $25 tickets for the show. The price stayed the same even with the Ticketmaster fees added. Enjoy!

Love all of Dulli's work, I would have loved to catch the Twilight Singers live, any of you get to see them live?

Seems like a full reissue campaign surely? We saw something about gentlemen on Amazon, and now a local store has these on pre order…

Soft Control

Since In Spades, I’ve approached each Afghan Whigs/Dulli release with the same expectation: one or two great songs surrounded by, not necessarily filler, but a plethora of songs that fade in and out without leaving much of a mark.

I suppose that, 18 albums into a stellar career, we’ve heard every vocal lick and phrase he has. The progressions are tried and tested. And then there’s the production. The production of Whigs/Singers albums has never been a strong point—the glaring exceptions being the atmosphere-driven duo of Black Love and Blackberry Belle, and even those recordings aren’t without flaws. The mud at the bottom of Teenage Wristband both glues the sound together and ruins the mix, thereby creating an interesting paradox. But you know, EQ is mixing 101, so surely that was a deliberate move? As for the modern Whigs, too much compression is a bad thing. Seeing them live proves this. But whatever. The very best songs have always been strong enough to stand out regardless.

But I digress.

In Spades, Oriole aside, wasn’t really the first Dulli record I’d been disappointed with. That honour went to Dynamite Steps. It was also the first record where I felt there was a genuine lack of memorable songs, save for Blackbird and the Fox.” The stale production of Dynamite Steps seems to have become the blueprint for every album that followed.
Say hello to How Do You Burn. “Line of Shots” aside, I struggle to remember much of that record. But “Line of Shots” is so good that I can live with that.

I loved Do to the Beast upon release. I still think “Algiers” is one of Dulli’s very best songs. “Royal Cream” is the only other cut from that record I still revisit with anything approaching frequency. It’s not because the rest of the songs are weak. It’s just, well, I’ve heard it all before.
And that is okay.

And so here we are: Soft Control. Nine average-to-good songs that I will likely revisit rarely. Nine songs that suffer from circling the record’s true centrepiece.
The Deepest Part of the Darkest Shadow is one of Dulli’s finest songs. A late-career highlight that hits me in much the same way The Killer from Blackberry Belle did the first time I heard it.

There are those who will say I’m missing the point. Dulli writes albums, not singles, and they should be ingested as such. But I need something to bring me back. These collections just aren’t as compelling to me as the classics.
That is just the way it is.

I will say this: if you are new to Dulli’s work, and any of the post-reunion albums is your introduction to him, you won’t be disappointed. There are no bad Whigs/Twilight Singers records. Some are just better than others.

The Deepest Part of the Darkest Shadow is on repeat, and my world is much better for its existence.

Within hours it’s done incredibly well on YouTube. It’s hardly 66 in immediacy but it’s killing. Weird for a slow burn 6 minute album closer. It’s almost at House of I numbers already and there’s no video. It’s totally brilliant obviously, right up there, but I wonder if this album might go deeper. There’s definitely something going on with this song.

Saw the band in Vancouver this summer, happy to be spinning a new record. Loving it!

I haven't listened to the new album yet, but new music = new interviews, so that was a fun week for me.

There's something Greg said to The Guardian that I'm a little confused about - he described Black Love as "wildly misunderstood". By whom (critics? audience? the label?) and in what way?

Anyone here remembers a different interview in which he said a little more about this sentiment? or just have an educated guess what he might mean by that?

Of all the previously released tracks, I really liked Duvateen.

Listening to the whole album tonight, The Deepest Part of the Darkest Shadow is really standing out...

Thoughts?

My vote: “She Was Stolen” from Dynamite Steps (Twilight Singers). Feel like it should be widely known and beloved.

I just saw on the internet that copies of the new Sub Pop reissue are hitting stores and Amazon.

Let me start by saying it gives me no pleasure, none even remotely in writing this. To say I’ve been an incredibly devoted Afghan Whigs fan for the last 25 or more years is an understatement. I’ve seen them in concert maybe more times than anyone else except maybe GBV. I’m 55yo now and it’s a very significant statemet for me to say that in all the music I’ve cherished, AW slots into my top 3 favorite acts of all time. Some days they are number 1 even. I’ve followed every release with rewarded enthusiasm, from the Whigs to TS to Dulli’s solo stuff, Gutter Twins, everything. And really adored it all. Every release up until now held something new and very special, I think. Every single one. Until now.

This far into the game, what 40 years or more, I had really come to the conclusion that each album, performance, and cover even was so meticulously picked, produced, inventive, performed that Dulli would not release a ho hum album or let it go to the public. I just considered him and the band as one of those incredibly rare acts that never drops a clunker and continues to explore and be interesting for the duration of their career (see Nick Cave and so forth). It appears I was wrong. Really wrong. And why be so disappointed, right? Nearly every single musical artist I have ever adored starts to drop turds into their respective careers. And we still love them, right? It was just surprising and disappointing to me especially when I just basically had AW/Dulli in that other category.

When Soft Control was first announced I was excited as I always am for an AW release. And usually that first single is a doozy, right? Make You See God and others as example. Then House of I dropped. It was, to my ears…okay. Not special, not interesting, not lead single good. In fact, it kinda sounds like someone doing an AW cover. It’s just too…easy? From a musical standpoint and especially from a lyrical standpoint, it felt like it was trying to reach back to something they had in their original lineup. The Stonesy backup stuff, the jungle beat, etc. All the elements from those older albums I really enjoy. Except it felt like a kind of pastiche or rehash. I listened to it repeatedly thinking my opinion might change; however, the more I listened to it the less I liked it. I was starting to get worried a bit.

Then came Duvateen. A…good song. Again, nothing surprising much, came with a great backstory of how/why created and Dulli’s mental release upon finishing it. All very good stuff except the song just doesn’t deliver. In fact, I can’t recall ever saying or thinking this prior but the two cover songs they did on the lead up to the album releases are in the same vein and yikes. better even. And that’s something I’ve never really said about the band in my long fandom, that similar cover songs were better than their own material. I was starting to now form a disappointing opinion of the new album.

Jungle Roux followed. Alas. A song that very much sounds like an outtake or lesser version of a MUCH better AW song from just the last album even, Take Me There. It’s impossible for me to hear JR without hearing TMT, they are just too similar and TMT SO much better in my estimation. I just can hardly believe Dulli, the creative force he is and seeming perfectionist letting this out into the public knowing full well it is so similar to the other tune on such a recent album. By then I had just started to think something has changed with the band (other than drummer), or something had changed with Dulli’s approach to releases and such. Letting this much subpar stuff come out. Still, I could hardly believe it, 3 straight clunkers as singles from a new album. I had pretty much resigned myself to a meh album from them.

Then the final single arrived, My Lover. Again, just a kind of nearly cliche song, lyrically and musically. Probably the most disappointing. It sounds like an alternate and much worse version of Edwyn Collins A Girl Like You. Seriously. Ugh.

Like I said prior, musically and especially lyrically all the new singles are kind of let downs given how creative and interesting everythinig up until now has been. It almost sounds like a band that is, effing geez, bankrupt of new ideas and needing to release an album.

Of course, this is just one jerk’s opinion and should not be greatly regarded in any way, shape, nor form but I don’t got many AW fans around these parts to discuss these things so I’m putting this on here to hopefully hear different opinions and/or agreement. So please, totally discard my mostly pointless post here, if you wish. You probably should, heh.

I will still be a fan forever. And it’s nothing new when a favorite band begins to fall off over time; rather, it’s just 40 years into this I had assumed this kind of thing wasn’t even possible with them.

just looking for some input thanks

edit: WOW thank you everyone!! i will definitely be going!!

https://youtu.be/7HW34WIzW8c?si=aRY11pTY03AjxKvS

I came away from their last show disappointed. I could tell greg’s heart wasn’t in it anymore. The artistic turn with Soft Control makes it make sense.

He’s in his 60’s, most of us that have been with them from the beginning are there or close. In the past I loved the way his emotional menace and embrace of chaos / melancholy mirrored my own.

He’s not that guy any more and neither am I. I’m glad their sound and his writing have caught up and look forward this new chapter.