Prism Shores - Softest Attack

€12.00 - €18.00

Prism Shores - Softest Attack

€12.00 - €18.00

Prism Shores are Montreal janglers who cherry-pick the record crate for influence, recalling the best shambling C86, fuzzed-out power pop, and glistening shoegaze while leaving an idiosyncratic stamp. Softest Attack, their new album, arrives April 10, 2026, on Meritorio and Having Fun (Canada). Recorded hot on the heels of 2025’s breakthrough effort Out From Underneath, it finds the band catapulting into a more immediate, hook-laden direction, relying less on nocturnal atmospherics and leaning into the pure, undiluted strength of their melancholic songwriting.

Softest Attack was written during a banner year for the band, composed of Jack MacKenzie (guitar, bass, vocals), Ben Goss (guitar, bass, vocals), Luke Pound (drums, guitar, vocals), and Finn Dalbeth (guitar, vocals). Out From Underneath was released to acclaim from outlets like Bandcamp Daily, Exclaim, Stereogum, and Raven Sings The Blues, landing on several year-end lists. Its underground success led to the band's first American shows, festival appearances, and opening slots for several established artists. This newfound buzz stoked a desire to take a big swing with the follow-up. To accomplish this, the band enlisted the help of Scott “Monty” Munro (Preoccupations, Ribbon Skirt, Knitting), who produced and engineered the album at Studio St. Zo. His collaborative spirit and deft hand allowed the band to realize the densely ornamented guitar pop record they set out to make, embracing an amps-to-eleven maximalism without sacrificing the interlocking jangle and delicate melodic work that’s become their calling card. The album was mixed by René Wilson (Nap Eyes, La Sécurité) at Value Sound and mastered by Mikey Young (The Tubs, Dummy).

Like Out From Underneath before it, Softest Attack is a patchwork of inspiration from different corners of the indiepop canon. Songs like “Resigned to the Fact” and “Idle Again” bring to mind echoes of groups like The Wedding Present and The Go-Betweens found in the Prisms’ earliest work. Standouts like “Magical Thinking” and “I Didn’t Mean to Change My Mind,” though, find the band indulging a recent fixation with the 1990s power pop revival, taking cues from the syrupy hooks and blown-out guitars of groups like Teenage Fanclub, Sugar, and The Lemonheads. Lead single and quasi-title track “Kid Gloves” bridges the gap between these two sides of the coin, a frenetic slice of noise pop that recalls The Boo Radleys and Velocity Girl. Songs like “Gossamer” and “A Faster Gun” pick up the shoegaze threads left by the previous record, evoking Ecstacy and Wine-era My Bloody Valentine or early Lilys. Elsewhere, the perpetual Dunedin influence appears on The Bats-tinged “Nothing to Find” and the feedback-laden, motorik groove of The Clean-indebted “Guidebook.” Album closer “Twist the Knife" ties up the record’s threads with a drumless, Pastelsesque twee ballad that explodes into a burst of Psychocandy feedback before swallowing itself back into a murmur at the finish line.

Thematically, the album burnishes familiar ground; the introspection, ennui, and self-doubt that typified their previous material are all present and accounted for here. The difference this time, though, is that the album features lyrics composed and sung by all four members, a first for the group. By this same token, the songwriting process was more collaborative than ever, with the band working through rough song ideas at their warehouse practice space and leaving structural decisions for the studio. Due to this, Munro was an invaluable part of the creative process, suggesting instrumental and vocal parts along with performing keys, guitars, and upright bass on several songs himself. Sessions occurred in bursts throughout 2025, whenever schedules allowed and new songs appeared. Songs were often built first by raiding St. Zo's treasure trove of pedals to find an appropriately crunchy rhythm guitar sound, laying a foundation for the layers of Nashville-tuned acoustics, glide guitar, synths, organs, percussion, and vocal harmonies that adorn the tracklist. Drums and bass were tracked during a sweltering summer heat wave, lending an exasperated punch to the performances. For the first time, the band embraced the guitar solo – or at least “non-solos” existing somewhere along the Mascis-Martsch-Kaplan axis – with several tracks featuring extended, skronky freakouts to accent emotional weight. Harmonies and backing vocals were also embraced to a fuller extent on this record, another sign of encroaching power pop inspiration. Overall, the focus was ensuring the songs were represented as effectively as they could be. Arrangements were carefully refined and executed by the band and Munro, but laying down every good idea was encouraged. Wilson’s mix was the lynchpin for taming the litany of moving parts produced by the sessions. Lightly treated through his analog mixing board, he proceeded to mix the album on a single timeline, hoping to replicate the weather-tested vintage mixdown style employed by many of the band’s influences. In practice, his process added a warmth and dynamic weight to the sound that Young’s master hermetically sealed into place. Softest Attack is the Prisms’ latest crack at making a top shelf indiepop record, hoping to stand on the shoulders of their long list of “record collector rock” influences while forging their own path. If nothing else, it’s their most valiant attempt yet.

credits
releases April 10, 2026

Produced and recorded by Scott “Monty” Munro at Studio St. Zo.

Mixed by René Wilson at Value Sound.

Mastered by Mikey Young.

Jack MacKenzie - guitars, vocals, bass.
Ben Goss - bass, vocals, guitars.
Luke Pound - drums, vocals, percussion, guitars.
Finn Dalbeth - guitars, vocals.
Scott Munro - vocals, synths, organ, guitars, upright bass, analog effects.

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Listen:

Track Listing

1. Kid Gloves
2. Lying in Wait
3. I Didn’t Mean to Change My Mind
4. Gossamer
5. Idle Again
6. Magical Thinking
7. Nothing to Find
8. Precarity
9. A Faster Gun
10. Guidebook
11. Resigned to the Fact
12. Twist the Knife