Although the Softies' songs are individually quite lovely, the duo's extreme devotion to a stripped-down, two-voices/two-guitars aesthetic means that it can be kind of tiring to listen to a full Softies long-player. As a result, this four-song EP is just perfect: long enough to be captivated by the winsome simplicity, but not so long that you'll fall asleep before it's over. Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia have such similar voices, artless and wispy and of uncertain pitch, like a pair of indie pop Claudine Longets, that it's difficult to tell who's singing lead on any given song. Sometimes, as on the title track, their voices curl around each other like sleeping kittens in a basket, but more often, their close harmonies become so close that the effect is that of one double-tracked voice. Similarly, the pair of quietly strummed electric guitars that are this single's only instrumentation don't follow the usual lead and rhythm dichotomy, instead favoring simple complementary rhythmic patterns that are usually sturdy enough for the listener not to miss the absence of a traditional rhythm section. The lyrical themes are the same as on any Softies release, focusing almost obsessively on the small pleasures and heartaches of an idealization of romantic love. Even the witty Lambretta Boy, where the 25-year-old Sbragia runs alternately toward and away from a crush on a 16-year-old mod boy, feels as innocent and sanitized as an episode of #The Donna Reed Show. Happily, at just under nine and a half minutes, He'll Never Have to Know doesn't stick around long enough for this sort of thing to get annoying. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi

1		He'll Never Have to Know
2		Nothing Sincerely
3		Lambretta Boy
4		C.K.M.

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