SoftSun is one of those projects where the lineup already tells you roughly what to expect before the album even starts. Gary Arce’s desert-rock background colliding with Pia Isaksen’s colder, more atmospheric approach sounds like a strange combination on paper, but “Eternal Sunrise” rarely feels forced or overly conceptual. The record moves very naturally between those two worlds.
At its core, this is somewhere between doomgaze, slow-burn post-rock and psychedelic desert rock, though none of those labels fully stick for very long. There are obvious traces of Yawning Man in the guitar phrasing, especially in the more open instrumental sections, while some of the heavier low-end presence and drifting atmosphere occasionally lean closer toward REZN or even the more restrained side of modern post-metal.
The weird thing about “Eternal Sunrise” is that it never really gives you the moment you keep expecting. A lot of these slow heavy-psych records eventually open up into some massive payoff section. Here, songs mostly just stay in motion without exploding into anything bigger. You sit there waiting for the turn, then realize five minutes passed and the band only changed two or three small things.
That sounds more boring on paper than it actually is. The album keeps pulling attention back in through details.
Some songs barely move at all at first. Same beat, same guitar line, same mood for minutes. Then suddenly something feels heavier and you realize the drums changed underneath or another guitar slipped into the back somewhere.
Arce doesn’t really play “riffs” here most of the time. At least not the kind you instantly remember after one listen. A lot of the guitar work just hangs there, repeating itself, stretching out, disappearing again. Even the heavier sections avoid that big crushing doom payoff you keep expecting.
The vocals took a few listens. First time through they almost felt too low in the mix. Later on that started making more sense because the album clearly isn’t trying to sound huge or overly emotional. If the vocals were sitting higher, the whole thing probably would’ve felt way more dramatic than it needed to.
It’s a very slow record. Sometimes almost stubbornly slow. There are definitely sections where not much seems to happen for a while. Whether that pulls you in or loses you completely probably depends on the day and your mood when you put it on.
The contrast between the guitars and the atmosphere around them is what really stayed with me. The guitar tone still has that warm desert-rock sound Gary Arce always carries with him, but everything around it feels colder somehow.
The production works because nothing sounds too clean or separated. Everything sort of melts together naturally.
“Falling Through the Waves” and the title track were the ones I kept coming back to most. Those songs feel the most complete somehow, like the heavier and more floating sides of the band finally lock together properly.
I do think the second half drags a little. Some sections start blending into each other after a while. But cutting the album shorter probably would’ve ruined the slow hypnotic feel it’s going for.
This really isn’t an album for huge hooks or massive climaxes. Most of it just drifts along at its own pace. Sometimes that works brilliantly. Sometimes it almost disappears while it’s playing.
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Released by Heavy Psych Sounds on November 7th, 2026
