Hard times

Join us at our album launch show at The Northcote Social Club in Melbourne.

‘Hard times’ signals the beginning of a new chapter for Smith & Cohen (formally known as Sodastream) offering a stirring take on alt-folk with a tip of the hat to Nashville. The first single from their forthcoming album, Half Life, is an invitation into the duo’s evolving world. Recorded in a Melbourne home studio, ‘Hard Times’ is built around driving double bass and finger picked acoustic, punctuated by electric guitar and the undertow of heavily effected, bowed double bass—a recurring motif throughout the collection. The arrangement is spare but resonant, allowing Karl Smith’s clear-eyed vocal to inhabit the space between resignation and hope. Lyrically, 'Hard Times' speaks to the challenges of mid life with a hard-won tenderness. It’s a song about longing and uncertainty, and holding each other up even when the world doesn’t offer easy answers. With the state of the world so precarious and daily pressures ratcheting up on all sides, the bonds we build matter now more than ever. '