SOPHIE’s final record provides pure pleasure and broadens her substantial impact

Prior to SOPHIE’s tragic death in Athens, the avant-garde pop star had much of the follow-up to the hailed Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides completed. Its vision was partially revealed in a DJ interview: a collaborative effort to ground her art on “personable and down to earth” ideas. “Simple themes are important to me right now,” she explained. With so much material left in the vaults following her passing, Ben Long, her brother and close collaborator, wanted nothing but to extend her legacy the way she intended. Three years of delicate work alongside his siblings Emily Long and Katy Grimpston abound in this “first and final posthumous record” (not the last release per se), a supernova of mostly exultant sounds.

And what is a more ripe time to release it than now, in a year when Charli xcx, A. G. Cook, and St. Vincent published songs that mention or are dedicated to SOPHIE? Google even created a Doodle to celebrate her birthday last week. Whether the latter involved her family’s doing or not, her after-death relevancy to pop culture has reached such a zenith that a culmination is almost inescapable. They didn’t let it go to waste. The 2018 demo featuring Kim Petras “Reason Why” arrives as a polished, luscious appetiser for fans who have wanted it official and casual listeners who enjoy electrifying choruses and a liberating message alike. Its commercial appeal is both a refurbishment and a reintroduction.

Although categorised as “pop” to accord with SOPHIE and Ben Long’s planned cycle of experimental and easy-to-digest projects, SOPHIE progresses like waves lapping the shores of four familial genres: ambience, dance, techno, and downtempo. Many tracks on it have also been around in various forms. “Plunging Asymptote”, a provocative portrayal of struggling to break free from suppression, remains nearly the same after its release under Analemma, with violent synths that thrash like a baton against prison bars. “Elegance” was pre-crafted for a DJ show that now incorporates quivery tempos possibly signifying levels of one’s confidence. Their distinction in style and origin makes the record a comprehensive tour of her decade-long sound design iterations.

SOPHIE in part radiates extrinsic positivity. The instrumentals, when listened to singly, are often grim and claustrophobic; it is instead the vocal contributions of her dear friends that invoke the lively spirit of collective relief. Popstar’s entrance on “One More Time” feels like a welcoming reassurance amidst the anxious outpour of distant synth darts. Nina Kraviz’s sedative narration on “The Dome’s Protection” impedes the absorbing and percussion-less ambience from becoming a drearily liminal abyss. It could be a mechanical response to the pandemic as she once pondered, or simply the woeful aftermath of her abrupt absence. They deliver a careful catharsis that edges towards becoming radical optimism.

More examples are “Rawwwwww” and “Elegance”. This fashionable, albeit not innovative, motif – the supposed optimism sensed from the occasional disparity between production and vocal arrangement – illustrates once again the magnetism of SOPHIE’s Dionysian composition. Even if this time the music isn’t as astonishing as her instant-classic debut, there is still much to cherish and discuss. The record does house other clunky stylistic choices, however: Liz’s jarring falsettos on “Why Lies”, Bibi Bourelly’s parts being deafening on the strangely mixed “Exhilarate”, Hannah Diamond’s uneven voice on “Always and Forever”. Unreleased songs deserving of inclusion, like “Take Me to Dubai” or “Sunscreen”, are neglected.

The greatest and most emotional run is that of the last four tracks, which takes on a new meaning of “forever”. SOPHIE’s original thesis statement lies at this very end, though possibly has been revised after the accident: concerned less with setting new standards, the record discloses and enshrines these unheard-of creative undertakings in the hope of providing pure pleasure and broadening her substantial impact. It morphs her into soundwaves, lurking behind each stem of the influenced artists’ craft, an underpinning of toylike melodic synthesis. This rewarding upshot renders the project evocative and necessary despite its imperfect and sprawling nature. She’s being rightly immortalised, and more single and EP releases yet to come will ensure its continuity.