SOFTCULT ANNOUNCE DEBUT ALBUM
Copyright: Kaylene Widdoes
Ontario-based modern grunge duo Softcult have announced their debut full-length album, When A Flower Doesn’t Grow, set for release on 30 January 2026 via Easy Life Records. Written during a time of personal upheaval and transformation, the album stands as the band’s most daring and emotionally raw work to date. It’s a cathartic release - part unravelling, part reclamation - that finds Softcult pushing their sound and storytelling to new heights.
“I was rootbound. I was disappearing, shrinking, withering away,” shares vocalist Mercedes Arn-Horn. “The truth is, nothing can thrive in an environment where it is stifled.” That spirit of resilience and defiance runs throughout the record, which confronts cycles of abuse, systemic oppression, and toxic conformity while offering a message of empowerment and growth.
Alongside the announcement, Softcult have unveiled their latest single, ‘16/25’, a haunting and introspective track that offers a powerful glimpse into the emotionally charged world of the upcoming album.
On the single, Mercedes explains: “This song is about the predatory behaviour of older men who groom younger women. It points out the double-standards and impossible expectations the patriarchy places on young women in our society, and the cognitive dissonance that older men who prey on young female targets perpetuate while trying to possess and control them.”
On their powerful debut album, When A Flower Doesn’t Grow, Ontario-based sibling duo Softcult - comprised of Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn - deliver their most unflinching and transformative work to date. Born from a period of personal upheaval and self-discovery, the record traces a journey through trauma, disillusionment, empowerment, and eventual liberation. Its title is inspired by a quote that deeply resonated with Mercedes: “When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.” That philosophy runs throughout the album’s ten tracks, confronting cycles of abuse, systemic oppression, and toxic conformity, while championing the radical strength it takes to break free.
“The truth is, nothing can thrive in an environment where it is stifled,” Mercedes reflects. “We can’t flourish in environments that are oppressive. We need the world around us to be an environment that encourages us to grow.”
Musically, Softcult continue to refine and expand their unique blend of grunge, shoegaze, and alt-rock - pairing swirling, fuzz-soaked guitars and dreamy textures with raw, deeply confessional lyricism. The result is both intimate and far-reaching: an album that speaks to anyone who’s ever felt confined, diminished, or unheard, while offering a hopeful call to create space for personal and collective growth.
When A Flower Doesn’t Grow follows the release of last year’s acclaimed Heaven EP, which flipped the idea of the afterlife into a sharp critique of cultural complacency - challenging a society obsessed with the future while ignoring the urgent crises of the present. That project saw Softcult land the cover of Spotify’s MARROW playlist (with over 4.7 million followers), and tour extensively across North America, the UK, Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia.
