{"id":12513,"date":"2023-08-08T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12513"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T19:04:12","slug":"ep-review-softswitch-softswitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2023\/08\/08\/ep-review-softswitch-softswitch\/","title":{"rendered":"EP Review :: Softswitch :: Softswitch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f4.bcbits.com\/img\/a0031787958_16.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>by Rish Hanco<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Softswitch\u2014consisting of Suzy Keller on drums, Rob Hill on guitar, and Ryan McPherson on bass and vocals\u2014takes you to the centre of a universe at once recognizable and surreal with their new self-titled EP. Mundane activity is set against a background of questionable perceptions of self and reality. \u201cMemoriam,\u201d the first track on the album, displays this uncertainty with lines like \u201cWas she even real?\u201d and \u201cIt was like a faded page somewhere in our cursive memory.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Bleeding out of this uneasiness is an urgency that permeates the album, reflected in the lyrics of the second track, \u201cJupiter Machine:\u201d \u201cWe awoke to the orange light, streaming through the blinds, persistent, persistent, almost as if, almost as if it wanted an answer.\u201d We are transported to a place shaken by apocalypse but peopled with those who cling to familiar habits: \u201cDazed, we reached for our phones.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This theme comes up again in the album\u2019s closing track, \u201cBest At Art:\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s the end of the world, and you wouldn\u2019t want to miss a thing like that, just don\u2019t forget to feed your cat.\u201d The song gestures cynically at a return to that which is commonplace, despite internal and external crises. This is especially clear in lines like \u201cDon\u2019t worry, we\u2019ll get you through it, just get out your wallet, there\u2019s always a price to pay\u201d and \u201cGet home, get high, get scrolling.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each song is pierced through with a sensation of dread, fed by hazy guitar riffs that drone out like sirens, crashing, bellowing drums, and bass lines that weave between them like dissonant heartbeats. These layers of sound seem like a warning\u2014a great and terrible anxiety looms. At times, it seems as though the music reaches a peak and threatens to crash and topple before ultimately returning to harmony and regaining its grip on reality: \u201cSo we laughed, and moved on\u201d (\u201cMemoriam\u201d).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This album is a trip that will leave you exhilarated.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Softswitch - Memoriam (Official Video)\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bm423W5pns4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Rish Hanco Softswitch\u2014consisting of Suzy Keller on drums, Rob Hill on guitar, and Ryan McPherson on bass and vocals\u2014takes you to the centre of a universe at once recognizable and surreal with their new self-titled EP. Mundane activity is set against a background of questionable perceptions of self and reality. \u201cMemoriam,\u201d the first track [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[320,1484,1555,1543],"class_list":["post-12513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-ep","tag-ep-review","tag-self-titled","tag-softswitch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12514,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12513\/revisions\/12514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}