For years, Canadian twin duo Softcult have created grunge-y shoegaze with a razor-sharp edge that inspires radical change from within. Their songs frequently call for social and political reform, completely uncompromising in their messages, and their homemade SCripture zines continue those important conversations through art, poetry, and essays, by both the band and their readers. It all evokes the glorious spirit of riot grrrl, seeking to lift up those around them and find ways to better their communities. Their new EP, Heaven, takes a slightly different approach than projects past, pointing out a society obsessed with the afterlife and, ultimately, the idea of paradise. “We wanted to write about the contradictions within our society, what an ideal world looks like, and how close or far we are from achieving that reality,” the band say. “Maybe ‘heaven’ can be a place that exists on Earth, in our lives, and the lives of our loved ones, while we are still here to experience it. Instead of fixating on what waits for us in the afterlife, maybe we should pay attention to what we have here on Earth, because that, as far as we know, is the ‘heaven’ we will see.”
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When we asked the band to put together the influences that shaped their Heaven EP, they went above and beyond, creating their own zine for us instead. Dive in below.
