Soft Cuff keyboard player Christina Sanchez recently described why instrumental music appeals to her as a musician and listener.

“I think that it is like the time that I get to teleport,” she told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. In the St. Petersburg band, she gets to play around with melodies and textures built around the sound of vintage Farfisa organs.

In past bands, Sanchez’s bandmate, guitarist Shane Schuch, always used to write everything else before landing at lyrics. Now, he just goes into practice and worries about playing guitar alongside Soft Cuff’s founding members bassist Brian Schanck and drummer Michael Bostinto.

“You don’t even know how many little seeds of shit we’ve come up with,” Schuch added. “Brian will be writing this little bass thing, and I’m like, ‘Oh, dude, that’s nice.’ And then like, Mike, you’ll jump in and we just all start jumping in. To me, that’s like, the most fun I can think of.”

Soft Cuff brings that energy to an EP release show this summer, but it’s not the only great Tampa Bay instrumental act you can listen to right now.

Have a look at a list of some below, the click through the band names to learn more and listen, too.

Tickets to Soft Cuff’s EP release show St. Petersburg’s VFW Post 39 on Saturday, Aug. 17 are still available and start at $12.

Soft Cuff Credit: Photo by Ryan Metcalf. Design by Joe Frontel
Alien House Credit: Photo c/o Alien House
Fil Pate Credit: Photo via filpate.com
Katara Credit: Photo by Amanda LaFerriere
La Lucha Credit: Photo via La Lucha EPK
Michael Ross Credit: Photo by Jayne Drooger
Prescribed Fire Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Rugawd Credit: Photo by Gabriel Misael

Same Day Delivery Orchestra

Credit: Photo by Dave Decker
Sauce Pocket, which plays Dunedin Brewery and The Moon Tower in Dunedin, Florida on Nov. 23-24, 2024. Credit: Photo via Saucepocket/Facebook
Shaun Hopper Credit: Photo via Shaun Hopper Fanpage
Slopfunkdust and Spontonola Credit: Photo via Illsboro Records
Use & Care Credit: Photo by John Thacker

Wahh World Fusion Band

Credit: Photo by Jason Ryan c/o Gasparilla Music Festival

Wally Rios

Credit: Photo by Chandler M. Culotta c/o Gasparilla Music Festival
Zero Context Credit: Photo via situationalmusic/Facebook
Soft Cuff on the cover of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s July 25, 2024 issue. Credit: Photo by Ryan Metcalf. Design by Joe Frontel

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...