SOPHIE is an artist that needs no introduction. You have to listen to her music for yourself. Some think her music is ear-grating and annoying. Others find it fun and beautiful to listen to. But either way, most agree that SOPHIE’s music is avant-garde and innovative in her eclectic electronic-based production style. The music community lost an amazing and generational talent too soon. If you listen to any modern music, there is a high chance SOPHIE influenced its creation in some aspect.
With all due respect, SOPHIE’s legacy is extensive, despite her relatively short musical career, and it deserves all the love and care it can receive. The 2024 posthumous self-titled project, worked on and curated by SOPHIE’s brother Benny Long, leaves a lot to be desired. It’s basically unfinished demos masquerading as complete songs and serves as a saddening reminder of the artist the world lost.
The self-titled album begins with “Intro (The Full Horror),” a dark and foreboding ambient track with a similar vibe to ambient producer William Basinski’s “The Disintegration Loops.” This is certainly a very different side to SOPHIE as an artist, as she is typically known for her maximalist production. One can’t help but wonder if SOPHIE wanted to experiment in a different way than what she was previously known for, with the obnoxious “PRODUCT” and the gorgeous “OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES.”
“RAWWWWWW” with Jozzy only uses three sound fonts: the 808, a tapping-adjacent snare and the occasional synth layered on top of the 808. The 808s are a powerhouse, being abrasive and even intimidating, but they work well with Jozzy’s performance.
“Plunging Asymptote” with Juliana Huxtable would probably scare off any normal person with its repetition of the lyrics “Plunging asymptote, against a white noise more torturous than silence” set to the backdrop of anxiety-inducing staccato notes and synth leads. The booming bass and the sloppy and sporadic snares don’t make the soundscape any more manageable. This song would not appeal to most people who aren’t deep into music, but I found it to be quite enjoyable for what it is after multiple listens.
For those annoyed or intimidated by “Plunging Asymptote,” “The Dome’s Protection” with Nina Kraviz balances the ear-grating song with a calming ambiance and a cryptic, existential spoken word performance by Kraviz.
The next three songs have features by BC Kingdom, whose voice sounds similar to experimental pop artist Ecco2K’s effeminate voice at times. “Reason Why” also features vocalist Kim Petras, while “Live In My Truth” and “Why Lies” feature vocalist LIZ. These songs are all relatively pleasant on the ears, being electronic-based pop, with somewhat familiar production styles to SOPHIE’s own.
“Berlin Nightmare” with Evita Manji has synths with the rhythm of the electronic producer Burial’s signature sound. It doesn’t progress much sonically, unfortunately. “Gallop,” also with Evita Manji, defines this album pretty well: a cool idea that will never be authentically fleshed out that ends abruptly.
A track that serves as a heartfelt tribute to SOPHIE’s personal impact on one of her friends is “Always and Forever” with Hannah Diamond, an artist in a similar vein to SOPHIE’s sound. The lyric “Forever and for always we’ll be shining together, and as the years go by, you’ll still be by my side” is heart-wrenching, but Diamond is keeping her memory alive. This song is a celebration of a friendship that transcends life and death. It would have been an excellent choice for the last song of the album. Unfortunately, however, it is not.
“My Forever” with Cecile Believe is lyrically depressing to say the least, as the lyrics delve upon feelings of one’s own worthlessness and yearning to be or to have something (or someone) unobtainable. The vocal performance in the pre-chorus and chorus is beautiful. The synths on the production sound like it could be a nice call-hold song. This song would have been another great choice for the outro song of the album.
“Love Me Off Earth” with Doss doesn’t stick the landing, unfortunately. As the outro to the album, the song ends with a whimper instead of a bang, and leaves a lot to be desired. The lyrics about rejecting Earth and “defying logic and time” to love someone else are cute, though. It’s just not the best choice to end the album and possibly the official discography.
The 2024 posthumous self-titled SOPHIE record doesn’t do the best job of defining her legacy. The estate could have been more transparent and labeled these songs as unfinished demos. Nonetheless, when future fans who haven’t yet listened to SOPHIE listen to this project in a vacuum without knowing the context, they would probably be confused as to why she is so lauded. It’s more than unfortunate we lost SOPHIE, and I wish she was able to complete these songs and fully develop her vision for them. We can only extrapolate so much. If only she could have finished her planned second album, “TRANSNATION,” though at least there is still a community that cares about the life, art and legacy of SOPHIE.
2.5/5