Soft Landing, Polly Mackey’s second album as Art School Girlfriend sees the artist navigate reconnection, merging club energy with bittersweet songwriting. Feeling detached from her debut Is It Light Where You Are, Soft Landing embraces ambient keyboard tones and thumping drum rhythms. The difficult second album came easy to Mackey, producing the record between April and September last year, together with friend and co-producer Riley MacIntyre in Crouch End’s Church Studio.
The product of two halves, Soft Landing, is the culmination of Mackey’s solitary creativity and the formal collaboration of recording studios. As a result, the record delves into explorations of expansive sounds and intimate lyrics, evidenced on the opening track, “A Place To Lie”. Replicating an anxiety-induced beat, the album introduces a balancing act between dance-floor ready rhythms and a need for something meaningful. Creative production at its finest, the track, as well as the whole record, is remarkably deceptive. Soft Landing sees Mackey branch out of the bedroom producer mindset, where elements which at first glance seem to be electronic, are at a deeper glance live recordings, such as opting to put the vocals through guitar pedals as opposed to plugins, creating tangible depth to its sonics.
Halfway through, the distinction between tracks begin to fade, overlapping one another. Intrinsic to the genre of ambient pop, which the album finds itself within, this aspect doesn’t weigh down the sonics, instead it adds an immersive twist to the record. It’s euphoric and cinematic, transporting the listener into a coming of age film, accompanied by a soundtrack to a never-ending night out. Standout “Heaven Hanging Low” embodies the cinematic aspect, encapsulating the hope and uncertainty of young love. In other words, the queer trope of crying in the middle of a dancefloor.
Soft Landing is sharpest when Mackey’s writing weds MacIntyre’s textured production into a multidimensional record of melancholic dance music. The shell encapsulating Soft Landing is cool and detached, contrasting Mackey’s interior displaying vulnerability. Despite Mackey’s attempts at making a joyful album, the lyrics can’t help but be pensive, such as “Close To The Clouds”. “Growing up to look back/Not the best, believe that/I would never change a thing”, Mackey sings just above a whisper, detailing the wistful hindsight she feels looking back on her early twenties and teenage years, whilst simultaneously not wanting to change the past. Accompanied by an ambient-techno beat, album highlight “Real Life” sees someone moving on from an aimless point in their life with the help of a loved one.
Despite their slow birth, Art School Girlfriend is born anew with Soft Landing. Having truly found herself, Art School Girlfriend has developed a mystical realm alongside her latest record, emphasised by techno undertones and sultry whispers. Soft Landing is uniquely independent within its genre, striking an equilibrium between techno music and bedroom pop.
Described in one sentence; Soft Landing, turns The Japanese House’s Good At Falling upside down, adding a club beat, all whilst embodying Amber Bain’s lyricism. Art School Girlfriend is at their very best when staying true to their artistic dreams and desires, treading their own path in an industry heavily defined by borders. If Soft Landing truly represents a new beginning for Art School Girlfriend, then Mackey could not have gotten off to a better start.
Words by Sofia Hansen
Picky Bastards 
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