In her eagerly-awaited debut album ‘Softly Spoken’, Hull’s Jodie Langford does what few artists dare: she weaponises vulnerability into sound. Teaming up once again with her sonic partner Endoflevelbaddie, she crafts an LP that refuses to whisper, despite its title. The result is a brash, pulsating body of work that swings between post-punk rebellion and club-floor euphoria, all anchored by Langford’s poetic rage and quick-witted humour.
From the glitchy pulse of ‘Put It Down’ to the suffocating dread of ‘I See Only Red’, every track is an open diary entry performed under a strobe light. Langford confronts societal ills without ever lapsing into moral lecture. She’s too clever for that. Instead, her lyrics carry self-deprecation, dark comedy, and the kind of brutal honesty that only someone who’s lived these stories can deliver.
Tracks like ‘Humiliate Me’ and ‘RATZ!’ turn grim experiences into shared catharsis, delivered with biting northern realism. Then there’s ‘Breastmilk Cheesecake’, an absurdist collage of cut-up magazine lines that somehow still lands with emotional gravity.
Endoflevelbaddie’s production mirrors her frenetic and dirty energy. The pair’s chemistry is undeniable, each feeding off the other’s chaos until it becomes coherence. Together, they’ve built something that sits comfortably between art installation, protest, and dance party.
By the time ‘Softly Spoken’ closes with ‘Shoutro’, it’s clear this Jodie Langford doesn’t just speak softly; she roars through distortion, leaving no room for apathy on the dancefloor.
