24-07-2025
OUT NOW: Soft Bait 'Life Advice' Plus Video For Album Track 'Sooner'
Today, Tāmaki Makaurau four-piece Soft Bait release their sophomore album, Life Advice, out now via Flying Nun Records. In support, the band have also announced a release tour of Aotearoa - with shows in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Tāmaki Makaurau, Ōtautahi and Ōtepoti.
Soft Bait have been producing off-centre post-punk since their formation in 2020, only sharpening their output since the release of Plot Points - their debut LP released in 2022. Barrelling forward with restless momentum, new album Life Advice is sharp, hook-heavy rock - locomotive bass-lines and live-wire energy fused with musings of online weirdness, distinct Kiwi-isms, and wider reflections on the quiet rituals we fall into, or inherit, without releasing.
Life Advice is available worldwide digitally and on vinyl, Standard Silver or on Limited Edition Flying Nun Black.
Along with the release and announcement of a nationwide tour, Soft Bait also share a new music video for album focus-track and uneasy-anthem ' Sooner ' where they trade speed for sway; steady, and suspicious. ' Bring in the good news' sings front-man Joshua Hunter - a final manifestation in the face of collective unrest and collapse
Life Advice lands like well-meaning wisdom from a mate you definitely shouldn't be taking advice from - half true, half twisted, but still ringing in your ears the next day. The first single, ' New Leaf ' dropped on May 22, followed by ' Long Line ' on July 3rd - both picking up momentum locally and worldwide, with streaming numbers reaching a new height for the band and play on BBC Radio 6.
For fans of Viagra Boys, Squid, Warmduscher, and Yard Act, Soft Bait deliver a raw, unfiltered take on the post-punk genre, grounded in Kiwi culture and the peculiarities of everyday life.
Soft Bait are Joshua Hunter, Patrick Hickley, Keria Paterson and Cameron Mackintosh. Their debut album, ' Plot Points' (2022), introduced a sound that blends gothic post-punk with personal, powerful vocals. The album's singles, Big' and ' True Stories ', topped SRN radio charts, and their live shows have been described as "exhilarating, raucous, lively, punky, and so much fun."
Now part of the Flying Nun Records family, Soft Bait have now released their sophomore album, 'Life Advice'. A sharp, hook-heavy record with chugging bass lines, restless energy, and tightly wound turns. The songs dig into online weirdness, Kiwi archetypes, and the quiet rituals we fall into without realising. Lyrically, it's full of lines that land like overheard wisdom from a mate you probably shouldn't be taking advice from — half true, half twisted, and still ringing in your ears the next day.
