Softcult / Soft Blue Shimmer

Twin sisters Phoenix (she/they) and Mercedes Arn-Horn (she/her) have been making music together since they were barely teenagers. Cutting their teeth in the local scene of Kitchener, Ontario helped them find their feet; but because it was dominated by blokes, they were often left feeling like the odd ones out. Later, when they started touring further afield, the pair were exposed to how “misogynistic the music industry really was.” Tired of biting their tongues and putting up with relentless sexism—as well as realizing they weren’t the only ones having to deal with it—Softcult sees the pair biting back. As their debut single promises, “something’s got to change.”

The duo had been toying with the idea of Softcult for a long while, but the pandemic finally gave them the time to focus on bringing that vision to life. Recorded at home and produced by Phoenix, the band are able to capture what they hear in their heads without a middle-man diluting things, while Mercedes has taken charge of their music videos.

Wanting to rekindle the youthful love of music that saw them picking up guitars and drum sticks at age 13, Softcult is influenced by their childhood heroes Bikini Kill (“if Kathleen Hanna didn’t exist, Softcult wouldn’t either”), the Smashing Pumpkins, Deftones, and My Bloody Valentine. Not interested in reviving the past, they also take inspiration from the badass bubble grunge of Beabadoobee, Cherry Glazer, and Soccer Mommy, as Softcult are a fiercely modern group working towards a better future.

Three people concerned with turning their feelings, dreams, and memories into noise, Meredith Ramond, Kenzo Cardenas, and Charlie Crowley write ethereal and frenetic music about complex emotions and feelings. The San Fernando Valley-based group Soft Blue Shimmer previously released their first EP, Nothing Happens Here (2019), and their first LP, Heaven Inches Away (2020), in the U.S. through the Disposable America label and in Japan through Galaxy Train. The band’s second LP, Love Lives in the Body, was released in November 2022 via Other People Records. All of their releases have been recorded and produced by Corey Coffman in Loveland, Colorado. The trio always aims to write meaningful music, rife with raw emotion and nostalgia, seen through a cinematic lens in their heads—songs exactly like they dreamed them: fuzzy then soft, washing over you, and disappearing. Hopefully you are left reflective, but also filled with hope and determination.