Softcult is siblings Mercedes (guitar/vocals) and Phoenix (drums/vocals/production) Arn-Horn. The band began dropping single tracks in early 2021, and released their first EP, Year Of The Rat, on April 16, 2021.

Citing Bikini Kill as a major influence, the band takes the ethos of the riot grrrl movement and mixes it with shoegaze, grunge, and dreampop influences. Squarely feminist, the music addresses endemic issues of abuse, assault, harassment, misogyny, and social and gender norms as well as mental health.

The band name is a call for awareness. “We chose Softcult because this band is all about social commentary.”, says Mercedes. “A soft cult could be anything from a church, a government, a family, a band even. It’s anything that you don’t really question where you follow your group of people. We’re all in soft cults in society that we don’t realize we’re a part of, we’re just willing participants because it’s a normalized thing at this point. It can sound a little harsh but it’s also meant to make you question which soft cults are you a part of.”

The siblings were also members of Courage My Love. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.