Softcult is a Canadian duo made up of twin siblings Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn. They also used to be in a band called Courage My Love, signed to a major label and did that whole Warped scene dance in the 2010s. Their new sound, combines their love of grunge, shoegaze, dream-pop, and punk.

With Phoenix running point on production, engineering, and artwork, Mercedes directing/editing their videos, and both writing astoundingly-intimate lyrics about self-empowerment amidst social, political, and environmental collapse, the duo is about as DIY as it gets. They even create and produce their own zine called SCripture, currently on Vol. 20, and are active participants in their Softcult Discord server, a safe online community for their fans.

Mercedes Arn-Horn on “One Of A Million”:

“Originally, I was writing from a frustrating perspective, expressing my feelings about the people in our society who think they are the exception and can justify repeating selfish actions, no matter who they harm in the process. As the song began to take shape, it also became about my own personal insecurities and fear of being ordinary and unexceptional, but the more I thought about it and wrote about it, I realized that accepting how similar we all are as human beings is a comforting sentiment, if not a vital one. The more we relate to each other and acknowledge our similarities, the more empathy and compassion we will have for one another. The more divided we are, the longer these issues get drawn out instead of solved. It’s important to not only celebrate our diversity and unique-ness, but also to remember that at a very basic level we are all more the same than different.”