Sophie - Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides
OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES is the debut from one of the most elusive and intriguing artists in production SOPHIE, and the mystery echoes through the album. It is an album that doesn’t go easy, doesn’t spend any time establishing itself, and whisks you instantly into the boggling world of both joy and despair. It has been labelled as ‘avant-pop’, but I see little pop and more of a full-on avant-garde, explosively electronic 40-minute epic.
The first three songs were the only singles from the album and are most certainly the most accessible. It’s Okay to Cry is a soft introduction, with delicate and wispy vocals on top of a spacey instrumental. SOPHIE herself provides the voice telling you that it is ok to show your emotions – a message that applies to anyone. Suddenly, the close of the track crescendos in panicked, distorted drums, and brings about the musical tone of the rest of the album.
The next two singles, Ponyboy and Faceshopping, begin the onslaught of abrasive sounds that bring in influences of industrial and wonky music. The latter especially evokes strong Flume vibes – the two worked together on a couple of Vince Staples tracks from 2017. The electronic sounds aren’t anything like an instrument, they are created abstractly and seek to overwhelm and surround you whilst listening. Ponyboy’s repetitive beat works perfectly in tandem with the droning lyrics, whereas Faceshopping goes far more off-rhythm, alternating between quiet, ambient sounds and brutally hard-hitting metallic drum breakdowns.
Then, the album shifts around in the electronic style. Is It Cold in the Water? constantly builds up energy through blips and synthetic noises but then brings it down without a drop – the bane of most popular electronic music. Infatuation turns to the more ambient sound, letting the high-pitched voices take over instead of the beat, getting increasingly grander as the track goes on into an impassioned end. Not Okay then reverses back into the earlier, more rough sound, but is merely a 1:49 earache – but with meaning of course. Pretending is possibly the poorest track of the 9, being a rather dull 6-minute instrumental track with very little texture. Immaterial is the poppy track, but its jumpy beat is a nice surprise amongst the anguish and dread of the rest of the album. The 9-minute epic Whole New World/Pretend World is overly long and repetitive song split in half, but is a fitting end to the album, amalgamating the duality the sound of the album creates.
There’s a hell of a lot on offer when listening OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES, but the cohesion of the project is almost non-existent. The concept may encourage this, as the constant struggle between loving what is inside yourself and being simultaneously saddened works well with the constantly shifting ‘emotion’ of the music. However, it provides for a listen that is rather conflicting and often confusing. The loudness is attractive, though, and you will fail to not be engaged throughout the run of the album. Get engulfed in the strange world of SOPHIE – it’s a journey.
