yeule - Softscars

On third record ‘softscars’, yeule sits at the intersection between bedroom pop and 2000s pop-rock. Where breakthrough ‘Glitch Princess’ depicted scattered synth-pop within dystopian internet servers, ‘softscars’ leans into the early-‘00s alternative that soundtracked their youth. yeule’s willingness to play with sonic landscape and sci-fi dystopia means their version of emo is more infectiously haunting than the blueprint: take the futuristic post-pop of ‘sulky baby’ and ‘ghosts’, or the interluding piano on ‘fish in the pool’, which feels like Dracula lit an oil candle while updating his MySpace profile. Expectedly, metaphor is much darker this time around, with yeule’s grief for a friend manifesting through raw, scratchy guitar, later settling within soft, glitching melodies. Like wounds healing into scars, yeule’s nostalgia combines with their wish to heal in a strange version of the future: the carefully curated ‘softscars’ is a gothic computer - a touching third act.