Soft Lad
Released: 15th May 2026
Artist: Johnno Casson aka Snippet
About Soft Lad
15 downtempo sizzlers and uptown bristlers for collective betterment.
Soft Lad is a slice of life in a minor key — analogue, stripped-back, sampladelic grooves that buzz and snap in all the right places. The songs are introspective, born of survival, humanity, and exhilarating love. With reel-to-reel beats, lo-fi textures, and punchy, earthy vocals, the album is honest and dark, warm and melodic, and above all a look inside the mind of the guy they call Snippet. There’s even a hint of chilled Balearic as the tracks unfold, bringing rich layers and that glint of optimism that never fades. Soft Lad is perhaps Johnno’s most serious and credible work to date. A thread runs through the tracks about using music as medicine, silencing chronic illness, and using love as the ultimate fixer for a happy life.
Making the Album
This record came about after an illness, when his fingers were too mashed up to be of use to man or beast, forcing Johnno to rethink how he makes music. Stripped of his usual methods, he embraced a minimalist, cut-and-paste approach: starting with a rubber-stringed Kala U-Bass, bursts of wonky synths, samples, and vocal loops — and curiously aided by an aging iMac on its last once-beautiful legs, which made overcomplicating things impossible (and oddly liberating) — he returned to the methods of making music just like when he first started out.
About the Artist
He first came to people's attention with Deep Joy, collaborating with Andrew Weatherall and David Harrow, and working with James Lavelle’s Mo' Wax label.
Songs he wrote and performed with Deep Joy have been championed by Gilles Peterson, while Tom Robinson on BBC Radio 6 Music once named him the most played artist ever on BBC Introducing.
Across a career spanning chart appearances in London, New York and Tokyo, he has also collaborated with legendary On‑U Sound Records producer Adrian Sherwood.
Now a long-standing and respected figure in the UK’s DIY independent music scene, Johnno continues to create thoughtful and exploratory music as Snippet.
Press Highlights
"Soft Lad is more than simply a bunch of tunes; it’s a guidance for how to stay human in a world that moves too fast" - Allen Peterson Reviews
"There's a particular kind of English melancholy that no one has ever quite bottled properly. On Soft Lad, he finally catches it.
Soft Lad is his most cohesive and emotionally coherent record. It's the sound of an artist who, faced with genuine adversity, dug deeper than comfort and came back up carrying something worth keeping. In a music landscape lousy with product dressed up as art, that's not nothing. That's rather a lot, in fact. Essential listening for anyone who believes that the best music costs its maker something real” - Indie Dock Music
“This album really stands out not because it tries to be groundbreaking, but because it feels genuine. It’s the sound of an artist adapting, simplifying, and, in the process, getting closer to the core of what makes their music resonate. It may be understated, but it leaves a lasting impression, the kind that grows stronger the more time you spend with it” - Space Sour
“I think this is one of my best picks of 2026. I put this album on late at night. Silence and lights off. Yes, I know, it’s a perfect setup for this kind of music. I didn’t skip anything.” – Cheers to the Vikings
“Overall, Soft Lad stands as a cohesive and emotionally honest work, defined by authenticity, minimalism, and a quiet sense of endurance that runs through its entire structure” – Dulaxi
“This album unfolds like a sonically charged gallery, where nostalgia is reframed through a modern lens. Analog echoes of Robert Wyatt brush up against a sensibility reminiscent of Damon Albarn at his most introspective. In Soft Lad, Johnno Casson structures the entire record around vulnerability. The result is a work that feels both modest and deeply considered. For listeners drawn to introspection, texture, and emotional precision, this is an album that invites you inward, then lingers there” – Song Plode
“I feel about Snippet much like John Peel felt about The Fall – Snippet: A National Indie Treasure.” – Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music
“Pop genius” Louder Than War
“An East End Brian Wilson on a budget.” – Americana UK
