Spencer Radcliffe is back with a new Blithe Field album, and he is asking listeners to dig through a pile of broken tapes, corrupted files, and half-remembered VHS footage. Soft Core Hard Wear, the follow-up to 2023’s Grits Kissed, arrives next month via Orindal Records, and it comes with a full-length movie attached. The first taste is the single “Milked Rainbow,” a track that lives up to its name while the album’s concept pushes further into the weird.
Radcliffe is a Midwestern musician who records as Blithe Field. His new record is a 18-track sprawl built on synthesizers, samplers, and cassette tape, stitched together with found VHS experiments and warped video footage. The album was recorded winter 2025 to Tascam 244 in Nelsonville, Ohio. The accompanying movie is described as “comprised of warped and meted together found VHS tapes, color, and general video experiments.”
The Track List
The record opens with “Milked Rainbow” and runs through a mix of mundane titles and strange images. “Concrete Tears,” “Hotel Morning Alarm Clock,” and “Franklin Park Fantasy” sit alongside “Gumdrop” and “Clazel Marquee.” The middle stretch includes “Raining On Titan,” “A Cabbage Story,” and “Supply Closet,” before “Telephone Number” and “Hedge Trimmer” push into stranger territory. “Ice Sculpture,” “Santa’s Cookies,” “Celotex,” “Hair Gallery Hallway,” “Mechanical Room Reverie,” “Contrail Over Wheat Field,” and “Paper Airplane Path View” close the record.
The press release details how the album was put together. It describes eighteen unknown zones visited, corrupted flash game files reconstructed, a cartoon floppy disk factory on the night shift, and point and click memories. The release also lists “Lost in the loading screen,” “Perplexed at the plaza,” and “Cat in the Christmas tree with the singing lights shorted.” Other images include trick candles melting onto the birthday cake, movie theater patterned carpets being vacuumed after hours, and plumbing beneath the water park being repaired in the off-season.
Eighteen unknown zones visited. Corrupted flash game files reconstructed. Cartoon floppy disk factory on the night shift. Point and click memories. Soft Core Hard Wear ☻
Each image — the cat in the Christmas tree, the candles on the cake, the pipes under the water park — is a small picture of something familiar gone wrong. The album is not a concept record about nostalgia. It is a record about finding meaning in the broken parts.
The Visual For “Milked Rainbow”
The single “Milked Rainbow” is the entry point. The track is fuzzy like a VHS tape that has not been touched in decades, and the title alone is enough to draw attention. The accompanying visual is a separate piece of video, part of the larger film that accompanies the record.
The Concept Behind The Record
The album’s concept is deliberately odd. It draws on corrupted flash game files, cassette tapes, and VHS experiments, all woven together into a single audiovisual whole. The press release describes the process as a series of small zones visited, each one reconstructed from damaged data. It is a record about memory, technology, and the spaces between them.
Winter 2025 in Nelsonville, Ohio, was the setting for the recording. The Tascam 244 setup was used throughout the sessions. The film component adds a second layer, turning the record into a multimedia project rather than a standard release.
The Titles
The track list is a map of strange places. “Milked Rainbow” is the first taste, but the other titles are just as evocative. “Concrete Tears” and “Hotel Morning Alarm Clock” sound like quiet, lonely moments. “Franklin Park Fantasy” and “Gumdrop” sit side by side, both equally strange.
Then there is “Clazel Marquee,” “Raining On Titan,” and “A Cabbage Story,” three tracks that refuse to explain themselves. “Supply Closet” and “Telephone Number” are small, domestic titles. “Hedge Trimmer” and “Ice Sculpture” are tools and objects. “Santa’s Cookies,” “Celotex,” “Hair Gallery Hallway,” “Mechanical Room Reverie,” “Contrail Over Wheat Field,” and “Paper Airplane Path View” close the record.
The Video And The Film
The visual for “Milked Rainbow” is part of a larger film that accompanies the record. That film is made from warped and meted-together found VHS tapes, color, and general video experiments. It is a companion piece to the music, not a separate release.
The video is a small window into the larger project, a chance to see how the visual side of the record connects to the audio.
The Release Date And Pre-Order
Soft Core Hard Wear is out 10/23 via Orindal Records. Pre-orders are live here.
KEY FACTS
– Artist: Spencer Radcliffe (Blithe Field)
– Album: Soft Core Hard Wear
– Follows: Grits Kissed (2023)
– Label: Orindal Records
– Release date: 10/23
– Recorded: Winter 2025 to Tascam 244 in Nelsonville, Ohio
– Tracks: 18
– Accompanying film: Comprised of warped and meted-together found VHS tapes, color, and general video experiments
The record is a strange one, and it knows it. That is the point.
See the video the story is built around at Stereogum.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.