by Allison Kridle
At Post-Trash, no music is ever outdated or unheard past a certain time frame. The music remains important and valued, and as a contributor, I feel this extends to finding ways to help others--not just when an issue is saturating the news. Forty tracks were handpicked for the Volume Four RAICES Benefit compilation promo, among them being Pllush’s “Soft in The Dark (1st Version)”. Out of all the exceptional songs that were chosen, Pllush holds a space in my heart ever since they became a member of my musical sphere years ago. I cannot remember a time where I haven’t related or felt something from their work.
“Soft in The Dark,” is found on their EP Pale, from 2014, and is probably one of their most tender and tear-filled songs. The whole EP sounds like grassroots shoegaze, but “Soft in The Dark” is a lo-fi, minimalist masterpiece. The San Francisco quartet proved they can accomplish a lot with few instrument enhancements and two singers with understated and fleshy vocals in the track. As I see it, “Soft in The Dark,” is about missing someone and losing someone. The experience of realizing your bed is empty when it was once lived in, or the feeling of never hearing your name in a loved one’s voice again. If bruises could sing, it would sound like this.
[ed. note: the version included on the compilation is an early demo of the song that would appear on Pale, released for the first time on Post-Trash: Volume Four.]