REVIEW: Softcult's "See You in the Dark" via Easy Life

The Arn-Horn sisters are back with their third EP. Last year’s Year of the Snake made my personal top ten EPs list last year and since its release over a year ago Softcult have gotten bigger and bigger. They toured with some pretty big names in the past year and as a result it seems like they’ve become more a known name in the scene. I myself have known about Softcult for years now but continue to be impressed by their output and admittedly didn’t, until recently, realize that they were part of the now-defunct Courage My Love. The only aspect of this band I’m not a fan of is that they show too much of their own hand before release day so this time I skipped all singles until I heard the entire project.

Softcult are no strangers to singing about the state of the world, especially the dangers of men and misogyny. However on See You in the Dark they add a deeper, more personal spin on how badly the state of the world hurts that was never really present before. On opening track "Drain" they speak on draining mother Earth of all her resources and the futility of living long and well if it's all going to go away in the end.


Why should we dare to live forever,

If nobody cares to change for the better?


Softcult also continues to evolve sonically on each and every one of these EPs. Where Snake was an angrier more emo pop presentation Dark is a more anxious and melancholic one. And in exploring each of these styles they find tighter performances, stronger songwriting and general evolutions of things tried on previous songs. These are Softcult songs and you won't be too surprised, however you will find that things like the almost-not-visceral-enough yell break on "BWBB" is now an entire realized scream section on "Dress."


I'll be honest with you in saying this took awhile to hit me and in retrospect it's hard to understand why. This is Softcult in their strongest form, it's a project I needed as someone who has spent her transition learning just how cruel people can be. I think with a few more risks a debut album by Softcult could be an absolute force to be reckoned with.


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