By JACK ROGERS
Softcultย have shared a new song from their upcoming EP โYear Of The Snakeโ, and itโs a beauty.
Itโs called โPerfect Blueโ and reflects that colour-based title perfectly with shimmering shoegaze tones and gorgeous vocal refrains.ย
Itโs musically lighter than their other output but no less deep and affecting.ย
Vocalist Mercedes Arn-Horn had this to say about the songโs personal edge:
โWe wrote โPerfect Blueโ 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 wasnโt allowing us to express ourselves authentically. They werenโt interested in the music we were creating at the time, so we became unhealthily obsessed with trying to please them to release anything at all.โย
And drummer Phoenix added this:
โIt felt as though we were putting on an act to survive. We didnโt feel like our art was representing us. There was a lot we wanted to say, but it was being stifled. We felt like weโd lost our integrity. The song is a reminder to empower yourself by standing up for what you believe in, or risk losing yourself altogether.โย
And Mercedes had this to say about the video for the track, which she produced and directed:
โI wanted the viewer to feel like they are entering the mind of someone who is watching themselves transform, powerless to stop their metamorphosis. I clearly remember times in my life when I felt pressure to become a version of myself that others wanted me to be, but that version wasnโt authentic to who I was. I felt like I was losing my integrity and my sense of self. Iโd look at myself in the mirror and be disgusted at what I saw, unattached to who I had become. Thereโs a vibe of health anxiety, dysphoria, dissociation, a little horror element in there that I wanted to capture with the visuals. The skin peeling scenes are meant to elicit those feelings, like a snake shedding its skin.โ
Here it is:
