One of the standouts from last year’s CityFolk was Kitchener’s Softcult. The sibling duo made their debut opening for The Beaches and the number of festival goers who had their phones out searching who this band is surely means they made plenty of new fans that day. But who are Softcult?
Initially breaking out as part of pop-punk band Courage My Love, the sibling duo of Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn spent the pandemic in an artistic cocoon, emerging in 2021 with a debut EP Year Of The Rat. They self-produced the new release, which immediately gained attention for how well crafted it was. A masterful blend of shoegaze and grunge, the sonic textures harken back to the 90s while also feeling entirely new.
This Saturday, fans both original and new will be able to catch the duo’s return to Ottawa to play the 27 Club with She’s Green and Just Fine opening the show.
We recently caught up with Mercedes to chat about the band, their influences, and what’s coming next.
Softcult. Photo: Landon Entwistle
APT613: Last time we saw you in town was last year’s CityFolk. Was that the first Ottawa show ever for you and Phoenix?
MA: It wasn’t the first Ottawa show ever for Phoenix and me, but for Softcult, it was. We played Ottawa a few times [as Courage My Love].
Speaking of, the timing of ending Courage My Love and launching Softcult right when the world shut down, it’s a great time to sit back and take stock, because we all were forced to do that. But not everybody could just walk away from one band and start another and strike gold twice.
Yeah, I think that was a really introspective time for a lot of people and suddenly you have all this time on your hands. I think the music definitely helped us through that time and it was very cathartic and it gave us something positive to focus on.
Softcult. Photo by Stephane Dubord.
But the reason that we moved on from Courage My Love and started Softcult wasn’t because we fell out of love with making music. It was just the music we were making and the label situation we were in at the time, it just didn’t feel like us anymore. It was a really nice period of rebirth in a way, and just asking ourselves “If you could make any music, no strings attached, no baggage, no preconceived notions, what would you want to do?” And so I really feel like Softcult is a lot more personal to us at this stage in our lives because we’re writing the music that we really, truly want to write. We don’t answer to anybody.
Signing a record deal when you’re still in high school must come with some expectations that would make it difficult to try to break away from that.
I think the challenge wasn’t so much expectations from our fans. I just found it hard to meet the expectations of the music industry, which felt like a moving target. You have to be able to write songs that are accessible that get played on the radio, and the margin for the art form is so small. It felt like it had to be this really specific thing which is not what Phoenix and I are good at. So we felt really restricted and confined in that environment.
When we started Softcult, we stopped thinking in those terms. We actually ended up having more success because at the end of the day, I think we can overcomplicate it with a lot of trying to predict or guess what people like and it really is just about writing songs that connect with people. It’s that simple.
Softcult. Photo: Landon Entwistle
It definitely seems to be working because you’re getting more success. And I don’t know of many acts that sound anything like Softcult. The originality is probably what connects the most with people because it’s authentic.
I think that we do have a lot of influences that we’re drawing from, but maybe it’s just the chemistry of combining them that makes it sound unique. We’re really into the Riot Grrrl ethos from the nineties, but we also love dreampop and shoegaze from the eighties and nineties and grunge from the nineties. So it’s a lot of different genres, but all from a very specific point in time. I think putting them all together the way that we do helps it feel different. It’s like all of them and none of them at the same time.
Your twin sibling Phoenix has produced all the albums so far. Is that going to be the case for the upcoming album?
We’ve done it since we started and granted it was COVID times and we were in lockdown and we were writing and recording our first EPs and stuff, but it’s worked for us so far. Phoenix is a talented producer and engineer.
We’re both self-taught with what we do, but we’re really enjoying getting to hone our skills in the studio. I think Phoenix really understands the sound because obviously they’re part of the project. This full length album that we’re about to put out is produced by them as well.
I’m sure fans will be happy to hear the next release will be a full length and not another EP. Not that the EPs are bad, it’s just that it’s only five songs and we want more.
I feel that we’ve wanted to do a full length for a while. We were just focusing on trying to put music out consistently, so we could build a world around Softcult before taking the time off required to make a full length album. But yes, I can confirm it is a proper, full length album that we’re gonna be putting out.
Softcult will be playing at the 27 Club Saturday May 31, with support from She’s Green and local band Just Fine. Tickets available here.
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