B-Side Guys

Exeter trio Soot Sprite arrived at a pivotal moment. Their latest single “Days After Days”—the second offering from their forthcoming debut album Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon—emerges as catastrophe fatigue threatens to normalize ecological collapse. Against this disheartening backdrop, lead vocalist Elise Cook, bassist Sean Mariner, and drummer Sam Cother have crafted a shoegaze anthem that refuses despair’s easy comfort.

The track’s opening immediately addresses environmental crisis with vivid imagery of “great floods” and “forests on fire,” establishing a concrete reality rather than abstract dread. Where many climate-conscious songs might stop at documenting destruction, Soot Sprite pivots toward an unexpected directive: “look for the flashes/Glimmers of joy, good people helping.” This lyrical maneuver transforms passive witnessing into active seeing—a subtle but crucial distinction that underpins the entire song.

Musically, “Days After Days” embodies the evolution from Cook’s bedroom pop origins to the band’s current incarnation. The production maintains intimate moments while embracing dynamic swells that mirror the tension between individual feeling and collective action. This sonic growth parallels the thematic expansion from personal to planetary concerns, with neither sacrificed for the other.

The song’s most incisive moment arrives when Cook questions defensive detachment: “The thick skin you grow, is it really a blessing?/What’s a suit of armor when your ship is sinking.” This metaphorical dismantling of emotional callousness positions vulnerability as strength—a radical premise in an era of ironic distance. The declaration that “To be soft is a form of defense” offers a counterintuitive thesis that reframes empathy as tactical rather than merely sentimental.

In its closing verse, “Days After Days” directly indicts class disparity with sharp observations about how the wealthy respond to crisis with “placated concern” while “laugh[ing] at us in private.” This explicit class consciousness—culminating in the rallying cry “If we uplift each other/We could go so far”—aligns with Cook’s stated mission of fostering community through shared struggle.

As Specialist Subject prepares to release Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon on May 16th, “Days After Days” serves as both warning and invitation. Invoking Rebecca Solnit’s conception of hope as “an axe you break down doors with in an emergency,” Soot Sprite transforms shoegaze’s traditionally introspective gaze outward—creating music that refuses to look away, even when what it sees breaks the heart.