Splaying dissonant chords against pop melodies in odd time signatures, Soft and Dumb explore gendered expectations, disembodiment, tenderness, and hardness. The art rock duo met at college in Urbana, Illinois, where they gathered a dedicated following in the eclectic diy house show scene. With the waning of the pandemic and return of students to campus in fall 2021, Soft and Dumb began playing 1–2 house shows a week.

Eventually, it got to the point where the duo was headlining most of the Urbana shows they played, including closing for waveform* (Run For Cover), when the Connecticut-based band stopped through Champaign-Urbana on their way to SXSW 2022. Around that time, Soft and Dumb began getting asked to play in Chicago, supporting touring acts like Squirrel Flower (Polyvinyl) and ex-Ought members’ new project Cola (Fire Talk).

Taking inspiration from Mitski, Soccer Mommy, Protomartyr, and Palm, guitarist Elena Buenrostro and drummer Travis Newgren fuse singer-songwriter heartfeltness with jarring punk angularity. Ferociously diy-minded and freshly returned to their hometown Chicago, Soft and Dumb do all of their own recording, mixing, booking, video making, and bio writing. The duo released their debut, self-titled album in September followed by a first-ever tour through the Midwest.