SOPHIE was a 34 year old producer, songwriter & DJ from Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom known for her brash take on pop music distinguished by experimental sound design, “sugary” synthesized textures & incorporation of influences from underground dance styles as well as pioneering the hyperpop microgenre. Her debut album OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES has become a bubblegum bass & deconstructed club classic with additional inspiration from art pop, wonky, glitch pop, ambient & ambient pop. Fast forward to the beginning of 2021, she accidentally fell 3 storeys from the rooftop of a building in Athen, Greece while attempting to take a picture of the full moon & tragically passed. Ever since her death, a 2nd & final album has said to be in the vaults & now it’s l here at last.
After the ambient “Future Horrors” intro, the first song “RAWWWWWW” by Jozzy starts off by hopping over a minimal electronic dance music beat assuring us that she isn’t dirty even though she rolls whereas the glitchy “Plunging Asymptote” heavily samples Juliana Huxtable’s libretto for Xavier Cha’s performance art/dance piece Buffer. “The Dome’s Protection” favors for an ambient direction instrumentally with Nina Kraviz providing spoken word while “Reason Why” by BC Kingdom & Kim Petras was a great lead single fusing dance-pop, electropop, bubblegum bass & future house talking about taking a look inside your mind.
BC Kingdom sticks around for “Live in My Truth” alongside LIZ radiating a soulful house vibe to the beat flexing that they’re doing shit their own way leading into “Why Lies?” by BC Kingdom & LIZ once again keeps the trio together for a synth-pop banger wanting to know the reason they’re being lied to. “Do You Wanna Be Alive?” by Big Sister throws it back to the 80s electro era showing off a promiscuous side, but then “Elegance” builds itself around a vocal sample of Popstar saying the titular word & is sure enough to get the dance floors turnt.
“Berlin Nightmare” featuring Evita Manji doing additional vocals from happens to be a dope tech house single with undertones of acid house, Detroit techno & fidget house lasting 3 & a half minutes just before “Gallop” serves as this instrumental bridge that feels like something Death Grips frontman MC Ride would absolutely body. “1 More Time” brings a progressively ambient & dream trance vibe to the table including a hint of weightless while “Exhilarate” by Bibi Bourelly heads towards alternative R&B, bubblegum bass, alt-pop & electropop keeping their feet on the gas.
“Always & Forever” by Hannah Diamond nears the final moments of SOPHIE’s eponymous coda promising to shine together throughout the duration of eternity while “My Forever” by Cecil Believe embraces alt-pop, synthpop, electropop, balearic beat, ambient house & alternative R&B sings about wanting to go back to what he perceives as his own forever. “Love Me Off Earth” by Doss ties everything up wanting to know what is it worth for SOPHIE to be loved when she’s not here, foreshadowing her own death.
Would I say this eponymous posthumous outing is as cutting-edge & decade defining as OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES? Not necessarily. Nevertheless, it’s still a respectively solid way to conclude the hyperpop pioneer’s career having Benny Long finalizing what SOPHIE had mostly completed up until her tragic death. Damn-near every track has guest performing over her visionary spin on electronic dance music whether it be bubblegum bass, dance-pop, ambient, tech house, acid techno, electropop, techno, UK bass & post-industrial connecting with her in the form she loved most.
Score: 3.5/5
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