The unrecognized genius behind the Soft Hills is Garett Hobba whose knack for shoegaze and dreampop music can't pass by unnoticed. His languished West Coast calm at times has some of Chris Isaak's ease with nostalgia, though his music lacks that immediate pop appeal. Sooner a rolling carpet of sound, 'Departure' appears gentle enough to reach a much larger audience. "Spit me out on a foreign distant shore" he sings which precisely sums up where he has failed. Safely keeping abay, the album goes nowhere else than beyond its safe haven. The tambourine banging on 'Belly of a Whale' won't either help. The strumming thunder on the closing 'Stairs' underlines where this album has gone astray.