{"id":440152,"date":"2022-01-07T16:00:48","date_gmt":"2022-01-07T16:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/440152\/"},"modified":"2022-01-07T16:00:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T16:00:48","slug":"softcult-perfect-blue-indie88-live-sessions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/440152\/","title":{"rendered":"Softcult &#8211; &quot;Perfect Blue&quot; | Indie88 Live Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  width=\"580\" height=\"385\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rHqVnL7lhzE\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<br \/>\nSoftcult, led by sisters Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn, are a shoegaze\/grunge\/dreampop band based out of Kitchener, Ontario. They released their first tracks in early 2021, and their first EP Year Of The Rat in April. You can watch Softcult live, performing their two latest singles in the studio for Indie88\u2019s Live Sessions series.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t their first time recording together, the pair played in another band, Courage My Love, since 2009. They signed as Softcult to Easy Life Records in 2020 with the vision of creating a new project that focuses on social commentary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn our previous project, we were signed to a label that butted heads with us creatively and wasn\u2019t allowing us to express ourselves authentically,\u201d Mercedes Arn-Horn explains. \u201cThey weren\u2019t interested in the music we were creating at the time. We became unhealthily obsessed with trying to please them to release anything at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Softcult takes inspiration from the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s. They cite legendary punk band Bikini Kill as a major influence. Drawing from their experience working in a male dominated industry, their songwriting focuses on social commentary from a feminist perspective. Their lyrics bring attention to issues like abuse, misogyny and mental health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf young women listen to our music, or see us on stage, and they learn that Phoenix is our producer \u2013 recording and producing everything we do, or that I\u2019m in charge of the visuals \u2013 directing and editing all our music videos. Seeing that women can take these things that are male-dominated aspects of the industry, and you can do it yourself. Seeing it in someone else means that you can see it in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On their new single \u201cGaslight,\u201d the band raises awareness of the psychological manipulation technique known as gaslighting. Abusers use it in relationships to control someone by making them question their own perceptions, memories, motives, and sanity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who hears the song will be able to recognize those red flags if they encounter that kind of behaviour,\u201d says Phoenix. \u201cIt\u2019s a tactic that many abusers and groomers will use to tear down the defences of their victims to make them easier to manipulate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe chose Softcult because this band is all about social commentary\u201d, remarked Mercedes in an interview. \u201cA soft cult could be anything from a church, a government, a family, a band even. It\u2019s anything that you don\u2019t really question where you follow your group of people.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re all in soft cults in society that we don\u2019t realize we\u2019re a part of. We\u2019re just willing participants because it\u2019s a normalized thing at this point. It can sound a little harsh but it\u2019s also meant to make you question which soft cults are you a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Softcult will be releasing their next EP, Year of The Snake, on February 8, 2022 on Easy Life Records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Softcult, led by sisters Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn, are a shoegaze\/grunge\/dreampop band based out of Kitch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":440153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28888,349036,349035,113490,20100,349033,349034,349037,208,26796,56141,349038,283573,39782,21428,3117,38802,41515,349039,283571,130581],"class_list":{"0":"post-440152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japanese-anime","8":"tag-acoustic","9":"tag-black-box-session","10":"tag-black-box-sessions","11":"tag-in-studio","12":"tag-indie","13":"tag-indie88","14":"tag-indie88-black-box","15":"tag-instudio","16":"tag-live","17":"tag-live-music","18":"tag-live-recording","19":"tag-live-version","20":"tag-music-discovery","21":"tag-new-music","22":"tag-perfect-blue","23":"tag-rock","24":"tag-session","25":"tag-studio","26":"tag-studio-performance","27":"tag-studio-session","28":"tag-toronto"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wacoca.com\/anime\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}