Track by Track: Softcult - Year Of The Snake EP

Mercedes (vocals/guitar) and Phoenix Arn-Horn (vocals/drums) run us through one of the most anticipated EPs of the year.

BWBB
Mercedes: We wrote 'Boys Will Be Boys' about gender violence and the double standard, hypocrisy and dissonance of the 'bro code'. Covering up for your buddies after they've assaulted someone creates a dangerous environment, especially for women.
We wrote the song the night we hear heard about what happened to Sarah Everard. We were so angry and frustrated… and you can totally hear that rage in the song. It says everything we've wanted to say to the people making excuses for gender violence and misogyny.
All of us need to be allies in this fight against gender violence and hold our circles accountable. The line "if there's one in your company, I wonder when they're gonna come for me" sums it up pretty well.

House Of Mirrors
Phoenix: 'House Of Mirrors' is about feeling as though you've wasted your potential and become a disappointment to the ones you love. It's a common feeling I think we can all relate to in our mid-twenties and beyond, wondering if you've done enough with your life or if you'll ever accomplish the things you set out to do. Being in this stage in our lives, it's surreal watching friends we grew up with settle down and get married, have children, careers, move, and we're here still grinding away at the same things we were doing as teenagers… We're insanely happy for them and want the best for them, but most times, comparing the trajectory of our lives side by side makes us feel somewhat arrested in development. That's probably why it's a good idea to never compare your life with someone else's. When people have faith in you, the last thing you want to do is let them down, especially if they believe in you more than you believe in yourself. And when it comes to activism and speaking out on behalf of a cause that is near and dear to you, you feel a responsibility to represent your community well and make positive change.

Spit It Out
Phoenix: 'Spit It Out' is about rejecting the harmful norms and biases that lead to discrimination and injustice in our society, particularly towards marginalised communities. We've all grown up being taught the views and beliefs of previous generations, and now more than ever before, it's becoming clear that these perspectives don't properly advocate for everyone. It's naive to think that we'll wake up one day, and the world will have changed for the better overnight. It takes conscious effort and constant practice to unlearn toxic or bigoted behaviours. The more we can educate and have important conversations with the people we disagree with, the more we're opening their minds to other points of view or even raising awareness of realities that they may never have realised even exist. We need to make a conscious decision to change our mindsets and habits in order to make our world a more inclusive place.

Perfect Blue
Mercedes: We wrote 'Perfect Blue' about a time in our lives when we felt like nothing was in our control. In our previous project, we were signed to a label that butted heads with us creatively and wasn't allowing us to express ourselves authentically. They weren't interested in the music we were creating at the time, so we became unhealthily obsessed with trying to please them in order to release anything at all. It felt as though we were putting on an act in order to survive. We didn't feel like our art was representing us. There was a lot we wanted to say, but it was being stifled. We felt like we'd lost our integrity. I remember one photoshoot where we were extremely stylised to look like pop stars. We were in clothes we never would have chosen to wear; our hair looked completely different, curled, lashes, the works. Even though there were people asking us, "do you like this?" we almost automatically answered, "yeah this is fine", without even really thinking about it. I remember being in front of a mirror and staring at myself, and it honestly felt as though I wasn't me. I didn't recognise myself anymore. I felt extremely uncomfortable with where things were going, but just learned to push those feelings down and sort of go on autopilot. The song is a reminder to empower yourself by standing up for what you believe in, or risk losing yourself altogether.

Gaslight
Mercedes: The title really says it all. We wrote this song about gaslighting and how it really messes with your head and your perception of reality.
Being in a relationship that constantly makes you question your decisions and actions, your feelings and emotions, even your soundness of mind. It's a tactic that many abusers and groomers will use to tear down your defences and make you easier to manipulate.
There are a few toxic relationships that come to mind. A few people in the industry too.
Basically, we wanted to raise awareness of this manipulation technique so that whoever hears the song will be able to recognise those red flags if they encounter that kind of behaviour.

Uzumaki
Mercedes: This song is about the cycle of abuse, and the trauma that it leaves behind. Even after you've escaped from an abusive situation, it can take years to recover from it. This song is about that struggle, assuring everyone you're fine when you're really not fine at all. It's to let other survivors know that they aren't alone and that there are people out there that can relate to what they're going through. We took the song down last year almost exactly a year ago to the day, and ever since we've had it in the back of our minds. It's kind of insane people will still ask us about it and what happened to it, even though it was technically only online for a day. We knew that there was something special there and that the song deserved to live, even if it had to change. In our hearts, we knew we'd have to re-write it. We were sort of avoiding it, though, since the song was a source of sadness and anxiety for us for a long time. Any time we release a song it almost feels like bringing a child into the world. While you're writing and recording it, you're sort of carrying that child. It's forming and developing slowly, and the longer you work on it, the more you fall in love with it. When you finally release it and bring it into the world, it's like a birth of sorts. 'Uzumaki' had a very painful, hard birth and when we took it down, and it was suddenly gone, there really was never any closure or resolution for us. When we finally got around to re-writing it, it was the final piece of the puzzle to finishing 'Year Of The Snake'. Sharing the new, re-written version is going to be an emotional and cathartic experience for so many reasons.

Year Of The Snake
Phoenix: The EP encompasses our feelings towards the cutthroat capitalist society we live in and the problems that need to be addressed.
The snake is symbolic of deception and untrustworthiness.
We've seen this time and time again from politicians that make grand promises and claim to care about marginalised people, climate change, poverty etc. but act differently when it comes to their policies.
Our goal is to raise awareness with music that makes people think.
We want to expose people to realities that they may not have ever been aware of before and speak out on issues that matter to us.
Most of these songs are meant to challenge people's perceptions but also come from very personal places based on our own experiences.
If there are people out there that can relate to our lyrics, they'll know that they aren't alone. They are part of a movement that is demanding action.

Taken from the February issue of Upset. Softcult's new EP 'Year Of The Snake' is out 4th February.