With Soon Away, GRMLN veers from the pop-punk-rooted road the band traversed with last year’s Empire; it’s an aggressive album, darker and heavier than what’s come before. While it carries these characteristics, there is also a certain peace to Soon Away, thanks to songwriter Yoodoo Park’s personal growth.

The teachings of Krishna were an inspiration to Park while writing the record and it’s a force that helped define his perspective in these songs. The singer-guitarist sees the constant changes of life allowing people to embrace the true nature of living. Still, there’s intensity to these guitar-driven tracks. On the opener of the album “Jaded” Park sings, “Go, but you're breaking without me / When days can crawl around / To waste myself away,” which is built around one of GRMLN’s catchiest riffs to date.

The album grapples with letting go and getting used to good-byes. “Find a way to be wanted and here for someone else / Break away from the notion, the poison in my head,” Park sings on the cathartic “Faux.”

After writing the songs in Japan and whilst on tour in the U.S., Park went back to Different Fur Studios in San Francisco with engineers Patrick Brown and Sean Paulson, who worked on GRMLN’s previous album Empire. On Soon Away, Park is joined by his brother, Tae San, who assisted with bass parts and arrangements; with the addition of long-time drummer Keith Frerichs providing a rhythmic backbone.