Pia Isa – Distorted Chants (2022); Ten East / SoftSun – Turned to Stone Chapter 10 (2026)

Good afternoon, y’all. Is it just me, or do you also find that Monday morning return to work tends to be brutal and exhausting no matter how much time off you’ve had or how relaxed you might have been in the interim?

I had a three-day weekend since my company took Friday off thanks to the Zombie Jesus holiday; had a fairly nice time visiting with family part of the weekend, and lounging out in nature the rest of the time. So I should be feeling refreshed and ready to go, but that never seems to be the case.

Anyway, we can all feel hashtag-blessed with some hypnotically chill music to help us survive another tedious day of drudgery: a split record Ripple Music just released on that holiday Friday, as well as a solo album from a few years back by one of the members who was involved in both projects on that split.

 

Pia IsaDistorted Chants (Argonauta Records, 25 March 2022)

 

Ten East / SoftSunTurned to Stone: Chapter 10 (Ripple Music, 03 April 2026)

 

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SoftSun – Daylight in the Dark (2024), Eternal Sunrise (2025)

Hello, Dear Readers! Hope you are all having a splendid Thursday.

Yesterday I told you about this weekend’s Mojave Experience festival taking place Friday and Saturday in the California desert.

Well today, I’d like to call your attention to another group who will be making an appearance in the Yucca Valley this Friday night (20 March): SoftSun, a collaboration between Norwegian bassist/vocalist Pia Isaksen (also known for her solo act Pia Isa as well as being a member of Superlynx (reviewed here) and Californian guitarist Gary Arce (whose other band Yawning Man will ALSO be at the Mojave Experience on Saturday) with the trio rounded out by a different drummer on each of their first two albums.

 

SoftSunDaylight in the Dark (Ripple Music, 08 November 2024)

 

SoftSunEternal Sunrise (Heavy Psych Sounds, 07 November 2025)

 

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Borracho – Ouroboros (2025) || Mojave Experience (Yucca Valley / Joshua Tree, March 2026)

Following up this post from last week, we here at Valley of Steel HQ are pleased to present to you ANOTHER article about ANOTHER new (well, it was new last year) album from a band we’ve written about a bunch of times, who ALSO will be playing at a festival at the end of the week (in addition to a few stops through southern California leading up to it). It’s like déjà vu all over again.

 

BorrachoOuroboros (Ripple Music, 08 August 2025)

 

 

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