The fourth album from Soft Play– Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent’s punk duo, formerly known as Slaves – concludes with one of the most extraordinary tracks of the year. Over a tinny mandolin riff and doleful violin, Holman employs his most abrasive hardcore rasp to lay bare a mind bludgeoned by grief. Everything and Nothing’s juxtaposition of sweetly jangling instrumental with strained, sandpaper vocals is spine-tingling enough, but the lyrics make it a masterpiece. Name-checking a late friend – while also seemingly alluding to Vincent’s partner, who died of cancer in 2020 – the pair tangle mundanity with utter desolation (“white knuckles on the counter in the kitchen”) to create a singularly beautiful and arresting portrait of loss.