Named Iowa Public Radio’s “Artist to Watch in 2024,” Des Moines band Mr. Softheart is making waves in the indie music scene with its one-of-a-kind sound. Blending genres of post-punk, new wave, dance and experimental, Mr. Softheart has quickly achieved a cult following across Iowa and the rest of the Midwest.
The band, made up of brothers Nick Fisher (vocals and synth) and John Fisher (guitar and synth), and Charlie Patterson (guitar), have been creating music together for quite some time.
“We’re all from a small town in Mechanicsville, Iowa, and we’ve been friends forever and played in bands forever,” vocalist Nick Fisher said.
After branching off from their previous group, Hex Girls, the trio came together to form Mr. Softheart in 2021. There was just one problem: None of them could play the drums. This, however, did not stop the group from creating the music they wanted to make. The three-member band soon became a four-piece act with the purchase of an automated drum machine. Over a year later, the group has come to embrace the sound.
“I think this is what we’re going to go with, you know, for this phase of the band,” Nick Fisher said. “In terms of the drum machines, it’s really just me kind of spitting my kind of weird poetry shit over the drum machine and that’s kind of how the song starts…just weird, surrealistic kind of stuff, and then we build the song around it.”
The group has continued to evolve its unique sound with the recent addition of the band’s fourth member, Halen Becker (vocals and synth).
“With Halen coming on, we’re kind of thinking this is like a second phase of the band,” Nick Fisher said. “We’ve been a band for two years now, and really, what she’s brought is this: We started off really dark and kind of goth, and with Halen on, it’s really softened the songs up, brightened the songs. The mood [is] definitely a little brighter.”
The now four-member band released their debut album, Magdalene In Crisis, in 2023 and has since gained significant recognition, including its Artist to Watch Award from Iowa Public Radio.
“Being an Iowa band that’s doing this kind of unique, original music, it can be hard to drum up that interest or, you know, make people pay attention when it’s something they’re not used to,” Nick Fisher said. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how the best Iowa artists are really open to genre and influence from a lot of different mediums, film genre, visual art, and we’re one of those bands for sure. So it was nice to have that recognition from Iowa Public Radio.”
Despite Mr. Softheart’s unique sound taking influence from several different genres, Nick Fisher said he is inspired by European electronic music and French artists like Serge Gainsbourg and Bertrand Bellin.
“They know how to write a song, you know, and we do too. That’s kind of where we’re coming from in terms of like an ancestral kind of lineage of that like 20th century music,” Nick Fisher said.
The band often draws comparisons to modern-day groups such as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Suicide, Viagra Boys and The Cramps.
“I think about how a lot of music nowadays has a message,” Nick Fisher said. “It gives you all the answers. We’re not that at all. We’re the opposite of that. We like to raise questions.”
Mr. Softheart will begin touring their recent album, Magdalene In Crisis, throughout local venues and the rest of the Midwest in 2024 and has plans for an even larger tour this summer.
One of the first stops on tour: Iowa State’s own Maintenance Shop, where they will perform alongside other up-and-coming bands, including Des Moines’ Poly Mall Cops and Kansas City’s Blanky.
“We love Ames. We bring out the weirdos in Ames,” Nick Fisher said. “I feel like they come out of the woodworks, and I think they’ll come out of the woodworks again for this show and kind of bring that energy to the M-Shop which will be great.”
The four-band event will kick off at 8 p.m., April 4, in the Maintenance Shop, located in the Memorial Union. Tickets can be purchased online, priced at $8 for students and $12 for the public. Tickets will increase by $2 on the day of the show.
“Come for the dance, stay for the confusion,” Nick Fisher said.
