Softener by Marilyn Venus

Marilyn Venus' debut ambient EP "Softener" put simply is a piece of art. With beautiful transitions and comforting notes, the work creates a sort of environment for the listener. The opening song of the EP, "Star Head" was a personal stand out. This song felt comparable to Ethel Cain's recent album
"Perverts", displaying similar features and showing a large skill set of the artist. The song ends with the robotic mumbling of some barely distinguishable vocals. A picture perfect opener to this EP.
"Pain Eraser" was the perfect title for this track. Living up to its name, the song felt like the light at the end of the tunnel, false hope. I could easily see this song in the climax soundtrack of a video game.

The next song to stick out was the longest on the EP. "Nothing’s Sexy" is 10:23, and worth every second. It starts with a startling drop of distorted voices. It slowly transitions to a deep rumbling, comparable to a darker white noise. Eventually fading into ambient bass and clicking piano, this track seems to sum up the EP. It is all anyone could ever want.
Overall, I highly recommend checking this out. This is an experience that you will want to sit down and process. Listening to the album in full would give you the best experience in my opinion, but if you had to listen to 1 song it should be "Nothing’s Sexy".
The EP itself is a standout, but another notable feature it's the title track "Suffer (Softener)".

Written By Charlie Johnson

soften up, or suffer