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Songs for Singles

Songs for Singles
Songs For Singles - Torche.png
Artwork for external "envelope" encasing the album packaging.
EP by Torche
Released September 21, 2010
Recorded Early 2010 at La Casa Nuñez in Miami, Florida
Genre Sludge metal, pop rock
Length 21:47
Label Hydra Head (HYH-207)
Producer Jonathan Nuñez
Torche chronology
Chapter Ahead Being Fake
(2009)
Songs for Singles
(2010)
Torche / Part Chimp
(2011)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (74/100)
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4/5 stars
BBC Music (favorable)
Crawdaddy! (favorable)
Decibel (9/10)
Exclaim! (favorable)
Pitchfork Media (7.4/10)
PopMatters (7/10)
Rock Sound (7/10)
Spin (8/10)
The A.V. Club (unfavorable)

Songs for Singles is an EP by the American rock band Torche. The album was released on September 21, 2010 through Hydra Head Records. It is the first Torche album, and second release after the split single Chapter Ahead Being Fake, to not feature guitarist Juan Montoya.

Torche was originally planning on writing their third full-length album, and follow up to 2008's Meanderthal, but ended up releasing an EP of songs they were working on as Songs for Singles instead. With little interest in writing another album similar to Meanderthal, they started writing songs that would be more fun to play in a live setting. The group quickly recorded music for about 12 tracks for an album, but struggled to write lyrics and record vocals for the songs. According to bassist Jonathan Nuñez, the music was too "full," and when Torche tried to incorporate vocals, "[...] It was like, 'Whoa.' It was kind of overwhelming a little bit." Guitarist and singer Steve Brooks recorded his vocal tracks about a dozen different ways before settling on a composition that fit well with the music. As a group, they also had to strip the musical parts of the songs down to a more simplified arrangement to fit in the vocal tracks, and due to the lengthy process, decided on releasing a short EP in the interest of time. Originally, some of the songs written during these recording sessions that didn't end up on Songs for Singles were expected to be released on their following studio album. However, Rick Smith later denied this claim. The lyrics for Songs for Singles take on a stream of consciousness narrative perspective, and have been described as dream-like and nonsensical by Brooks. He also commented, "That's why I don't print the lyrics, actually. I don't want anyone overanalyzing every little stupid thing I say."

Songs for Singles is the first album, and second release overall after the song "King Beef" released on Chapter Ahead Being Fake, to not feature second guitarist Juan Montoya. Torche has stated that they write and record faster and more efficiently without Montoya in the band. Nuñez commented, "We always wrote as a group even with Juan in the band... But when we became a three-piece, it was a really productive process. With Me, Rick, and Steve, I think we work fairly quickly, we know what we want, and we know how to get it, and we know when it's right."


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