Softscars

Softscars (stylized in all lowercase) is the third studio album by Singaporean musician Yeule. It was released on September 22, 2023, through Ninja Tune. Starting in May, with "Sulky Baby", six of the 12 tracks were released as singles prior to the album's release.

Background and singles
Yeule wrote and co-produced the album alongside Kin Leonn. Additional production was handled by Mura Masa and Chris Greatti. In accordance with the concept of the album, each track signifies a scar tied to Yeule's past. They took the "metaphor" of the scar to stand for each song but "each scar remains soft". Yeule also opined that "time never heals a scar completely" but the pain eases up with time, leaving behind a visible mark. They are convinced that the things their ancestors experienced "got passed down", calling it trauma. On the upside, the scar gives them the feeling of "being protected". Writing the record, they were inside their head, revealing that it hurt "but it was important".

Yeule released several singles ahead of the album: "Sulky Baby" on May 11, "Dazies" and "Fish in the Pool" on July 12, "Ghosts" on August 9 and "Inferno" on August 31. They shared the "glitchy, effervescent" title track on September 14, the inspiration behind it being the "garden" of their mind, which is "dark and prickly sweet and sticky". The song explores the core theme of the album, the marks and scars of past experiences. Yeule announced the album and its accompanying North American tour on July 12. While the album will be released digitally through Bayonet on September 22, physical copies will be available on October 6 via Ninja Tune, to whom they had signed earlier that year.

Critical reception
Softscars received a score of 83 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on 12 critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Editors at Stereogum chose this release for Album of the Week, with critic Margaret Ferrell writing that the music feels "electrifyingly urgent", she also praises the lyrics that have "a spiraling reconciliation with the harmful search for perfection". Pitchfork awarded it their "Best New Music" distinction, with Ryan Dombal commenting that Yeule "shifts from future-shocked electronic pop to a super-sized emotional bloodletting steeped in '90s alternative" and calling the album "a blast, its turbo-charged riffs and sticky melodies all but begging you to crank the volume up". Writing for Beats Per Minute, John Amen commented, "There's a confluence of pop, futurism, and poetic self-deprecation here that could almost rewrite contemporary XM". He concluded by saying, "Behind that contorted psychodrama is a voyager who's attuned to the ways of humankind – eminently capable of engaging on their own terms".

Track listing

 * All tracks are stylized in all lowercase.

Personnel

 * Heba Kadry – mastering
 * Nathan Boddy – mixing (tracks 1, 2, 5, 7)
 * Geoff Swan – mixing (3, 4, 6)
 * Nat Ćmiel – mixing (5, 7–9)
 * Kin Leonn – mixing (5)
 * Mitch McCarthy – mixing (11, 12)