Hard Feelings, Soft Promises Deluxe Edition is an unapologetic and brave album that represents a year consisting of escapism, frustration, and infatuation. For Art Ross “it shows we are not afraid of trying. Because what else are we supposed to do? This record is not only an example of our growth, but the freedom to throw spaghetti at the wall. Break things and glue them back together.” For this album the duo let the songs go where they wanted and upgraded the sonics to clearly match the tenor of the lyrics, which were confidently self-aware but evocative of the struggle to find out how it matters in the grand scheme of things.

The album was written and produced in a year. Between break ups, interventions, heavy depression, transitioning and falling in love, Ross wrote the lyrics as if they were  thick pages of a diary, full of the imaginary fights you have in the shower with someone who hurt you. There is a sense of pleading to be loved, then pleading to be left alone. The songs aimed to be current and truthful, capturing Ross’s desire to no longer feel the need to pass, in gender or mental wellness. For Ross this product came from months of suffering. While the duo is very different creatively, picture one who writes their lyrics on an envelope with a crayon and another who quadruple checks the exact guitar twang,  with Hard Feelings, Soft Promises they brought their creative differences together, not without conflict. The result encapsulates their friendship, their work ethic and something that they feel neither would have made without the other. 

Unlike the band’s first EP, Green and Ross made this record trying to find out what the songs were instead of what they wanted them to be. The majority of the songs poured out early in 2023. After a bad breakup Ross spent many hours alone with their dog, watching horror films and smoking weed to bide the time. The songs were written with shame and desperation.  Luckily they started going outside and fell in love in the summer. But the songs show this dualism: the poetry is a cry for help, the melodies are the hope.

The band decided to do this Deluxe Reissue to celebrate the success they’ve had since the original release of the record. Included are 2 demos that didn’t make it on the original album and some live performances of songs to show their growth as a live unit when they choose to bring out the whole band. It seemed a fitting bridge to their next album, due in 2027. Hard Feelings, Soft Promises came from a different place of breakups, moves, social and political shifts and the album encapsulated this specific time of immense change and challenge. Ross reflects, “ We toured with it, made friends through it, got an award from it. It’s been a nice look back, as we move forward with new material in an incredibly different world.”