Sophie's Floorboard: October 2020

To Be Gentle are a four-piece screamo/post-hardcore band from Eugene, Oregon that began in 2017. In their few years now, they've managed to encapsulate and evolve a sound that's both distinctly their own while paying homage to bands that came before them. Their "earlier" material will definitely bring bands such as The Saddest Landscape, Suis La Lune, and Daïtro to mind, for their melodic and passionately emotive take on the genre. Their most recent material takes a darker turn, with the post-rock leaning Funeral Diner, City Of Caterpillar, and ...Who Calls So Loud joining the mix, with a nod to blackened hardcore/screamo. For such a new band, it's crazy to hear the clear progression in their sound and tightness as a unit.

To Be Gentle are undoubtedly one of the forerunners in the genre now, thus why it felt imperative to at least give them a nod in the ashes of this dying blog. The track "The Thought Of Losing You Terrifies Me" is what first floored me about this band, so if you're looking for one sample of this band, I recommend that. Enjoy.

I Love You (2018)

1. That Which Is Safe

2. Tender Green

To Be Gentle (2019)

1. Understanding Healing

2. All The Things I Was Too Scared To Say

3. We Build Our Castles In The Air

4. Du Sang

5. Road To Himeji

6. But A Sound

7. Tender Green

8. An Amputation

9. That Which Is Safe

10. The Hand That Rests On My Shoulder

11. One Day We Will No Longer Hurt

12. To Be Gentle

Live at Gamut (2019)

1. Live at Gamut

L'autre Côté de la Peur (2019)

1. Flesh and Blood, Bone And Dream

2. If You Are Reading This

3. Insurmountable

4. 7/14/19

5. The Thought Of Losing You Terrifies Me

I Love You And I Am Sorry (2020)

1. I Love You And I Am Sorry

septemberthirteenthtwentytwenty (2020)

1. To Be Gentle - Every Day

2. To Be Gentle - An Ardent Light

3. sowithout. - tinyhands2therescue

4. sowithout. - synonymsforsad

Letters To (2020)

1. Indisposed - Antiquate The Argument

2. Indisposed - Indisposed

3. To Be Gentle - Ephemeral And Endless

4. To Be Gentle - Aftermath

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Exhalants are a three-piece post-hardcore/noise rock band from Austin, Texas that have been around since 2017. Despite my infrequent post schedule these days, I wanted to quickly throw out a recommendation for one of the best albums I've heard in the past few months, which is none other than Atonement. This band embodies the space left by bands like Unwound and Drive Like Jehu, while continuing the lineage of Big Black to Whores. Toss in elements of Hoover, Slint and Unsane to round off the namedropping. I can't recommend this enough, as Atonement is an album that absolutely belongs to the year 2020, for better or worse.