Name: Soft Hell
Brand: Pill

Tax rate EU

Default:19

Supplier EU

The Orchard/SPV (Membran)

Total Cap

Format detail

Colour details

Discogs ID

Limited edition

Colour

Format Music EU

Extended format

Extended format: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Download code

Download code: No

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Release date

2018-10-26

Format multiplier

Catalogue number

MEX2512

UPC / Barcode

184923125122

MEX2511

184923125115

Artist

Pill

Label EU

Mexican Summer

Genre EU

Rock-Pop

Mexican Summer is an independent record label based out of Brooklyn, NY. They release the work of adventurous musicians without the limitations of genre or form. Mexican Summer operates in tandem with Anthology, a book publisher and archival record label. Anthology focuses on responsibly licensed material, compelling design, and definitive presentation.

Newest Listed Items

Soft Hell, Pill’s second full-length album, is a raucous, splintering dispatch from New York City, animated by the madcap ingenuity of a foursome finding a palpable sense of joy and play in expressions of caustic, black humour. Like the contradiction of the album title, which references our acceptance of everyday miseries, it’s a slew of dichotomies, a frenzied cutup. It’s bleeding saxophone and lustrous feedback sounding somehow pastoral, and winking hooks subtly infused with venom. Pill’s lyrics are severe and funny, cryptic and straightforward, but never didactic. They reliably interrogate power. Vocalist and bassist Veronica Torres, a poet and visual artist, has cited as influences J .P. 'The Big Bopper' Richardson and Ian Svenonius, apt references for her wildly expressive range. Atop the clattering rush of opener A.I.Y.M. she uses an ambiguous narrator to complicate gendered stereotypes, while Fruit, a coolly pulsing vamp, explores the paralysis of political anxiety. “What am I allowed to create or destroy?” she asks in Power Abuser, highlighting the inanity of needing to ask for permission. Pill resent complacency, whether in political or creative senses. “For me this band’s about being provocative with sound,” said saxophonist Benjamin Jaffe. Drummer Andrew Spaulding said the album title, Soft Hell, critiques the “work-to-play” cliché of New York life, with its breakneck, competitive pursuit of comfort. Torres added that it evokes sexual bondage, describing Soft Hell as a reference to the cyclical monotony of humans harming one another.

Soft Hell

Music EU