softscars - Humanity in a digital age.
When to Listen: Feeling nostalgic for the 90s but want something new
Accessibility: Moderate Accessible
TLDR: a shoe-gaze/synth-pop view of humanity in the digital age.
Notifications, likes, dislikes, side chats, isolation, connection, loss, love, seeking approval, being seen - we live in the land of the always on, never off, constantly connected through digital, yet increasingly isolated. Softscars is an album about this.
Yeule, a Singaporean artist, frequently explores the concept of identity in the digital era, delving into themes such as hybrid AI's, humanity, and cybernetic futures. These explorations stem from their personal experiences with gender and identity struggles, as well as body dysphoria creating a deeply personal reflection few else could muster. With their previous albums showcasing brilliance, it is in "Softscars" that Yeule truly synthesizes these ideas into a cohesive and genre-defining reflection of the complexities between the offline and online.
Starting with a scream on "x w x" the album erupts as frustrating release of tension that would make a young Radiohead or Mogwai sound banal in comparison. Screams erupt as a tension breaking release- that gives way to melodic re-centering, acting a pallet cleanser for rest of the album.
Across the album they manage to balance a sense of melodic pop with glitch, emo and rock - taking nods and influences across the entire spectrum of artists - Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Postal Service, Bjork, Sonic Youth, Bowie and even some Pop / Math rock - all of it feeling just 1 degree of separation from the album. This creates a sonic experience that honestly is unlike anything else - both feeling warm and familiar while foreign and alien at the same time. Outside of the musical excellence, the songs address both personal and global challenges of the digital age. "Ghosts" address the challenge of 'feeling seen' and the isolation of shallow attraction, "Software Update" talks to the challenges of being enough, and the dangers of changing yourself to just be wanted and liked - fixing yourself with a software update. "Bloodbunny" explores toxic relationships in digital world, "4ui12" - feelings of objectification / dehumanization, "cyber meat" the challenges of online dating and virtual relationships. All theses songs crafting a complex weave of feelings and emotions that is mirror to the human experience.
Yeule summarizes the album best in their own words " I really wanted to take from that imagery of scars, because every time I wrote in my journal, it felt like it was transferring or imprinting that metaphorical scar in me onto paper. The songs are those scars. " - and this is what this album is, a deeply personal reflection of the challenges of the digital age. Beautifully intimate yet strangely familiar and appreciable. It is not an album of answers, but a reflection of to be human means. And that is what best summarizes Softscars, an intimate, familiar yet foreign reflection of the challenges of being human in an increasingly digital world.