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The Soft Pack were once called The Muslims but who cares? Following two previous releases their related artist page also read as a who’s who of garage rock bands, but who cares about that either? With Strapped the foursome attempt to remove those albatrosses to create an album influenced by everyone from Funkadelic to Orange Juice.

First track ‘Saratoga’ kicks things off with fresh sounding surf, while single ‘TallBoy’ signals their intent of branching out into genres away from the one they had made their own. The sing-a-long pop hooks are jammed in alongside an infectious horn section that will be revisited throughout the thirty minute LP.

Further evidence of the band’s musical wing flapping is in the funky, grove driven pop of ‘Bobby Brown’. It’s not exactly George Clinton but something of an unexpected dance number.

For the most part the main adjective to describe Strapped would be ‘fun’ but it’s only after a couple of listens that you begin to hear the darker side. The ‘Oxford Ave’ instrumental is set on a street frequented by transvestite prostitutes and through ‘Head On Ice’ lead singer Matt Lamkin channels Cohen to talk about the aforementioned ‘ladies’ of the night.

Album closer ‘Captain Ace’ sees the quartet jam out for a six-minute long wander, where guitars and saxophone hold hands and slink off into the night.

Despite all the moves to incorporate new strands, it’s still The Soft Pack. In fact, it’s still The Muslims. It’s tangible though, that the guys have tried to do something else with this and they’ve pulled it off well enough to find their record sleeve on the shelves of more than just the garage rock aficionados.