You Can Be My Wave

I hate posthumous records. The practice feels gross and exploitative as one can never be sure what an artist's true intentions were for their unreleased music. It also exploits grieving fans who would give anything to hear new music from their beloved artists, only to be blessed with (often unfinished) material that does not meet the quality standards when compared to the rest of their catalogue. There's maybe an argument to the contrary when talking about bands; situations in which the artistic vision is shared by a group of people. When it comes to solo artists, I feel that releasing music posthumously is morally and ethically dubious, even when the people spearheading these projects are the most near and dear to a late artist.

SOPHIE tragically passed away in January of 2021, leaving so many shocked and deeply saddened. She was a visionary talent that reinvented pop and dance music with her forward thinking approach to sound design. A huge proponent of software synthesizers, SOPHIE's curiosity led her to endlessly twist virtual knobs and adjust waveforms in pursuit of sounds that were incredibly unique. The metallic, bubbly, and flatulent timbres she created became an instantly recognizable trait that certainly challenged listeners, but commanded their attention all the same. While she collaborated with many artists, her passing left behind a tragically brief solo discography; I felt like she was only just getting started.

It was only a few months after SOPHIE's passing that the possibility of a posthumous release was revealed. SOPHIE's brother and collaborator, Benny Long, made various statements relating to the music she left behind: close to a hundred archival pieces that were at various stages of completeness, and plans for a pair of albums, one more pop-centred, and another more experimental. Perhaps the most hopeful statement for fans was that SOPHIE had nearly completed a follow-up to Oil of Every Pearl's Un-insides and that it only needed 'finishing touches.' SOPHIE finally arrived a few months shy of the fourth anniversary of her passing, and while I understand that this is going to come off grossly insensitive to question the integrity of Long's statements, I can't help but be suspicious as to how 'nearly finished' this record actually was. Especially now that I have listened to it.

SOPHIE isn't the tightly assembled forty-minute, nine-track album its predecessor was. Instead, it's a long-winded collection of tracks that fails to demonstrate just how much of a pop pioneer she was, as well as how daring and bold her production choices were. In fact, SOPHIE barely contains any identifying markers; had I not known this was SOPHIE beforehand, I probably wouldn't have clocked it. The focus of this record is also questionable. I certainly don't think it is an effective pop record, even by mainstream standards, as it severely lacks the colour, the pep, coherent songs, or hooks that made songs like Immaterial or Vroom Vroom so undeniable. Nor is it the abstract, experimental record as the structures to many songs are painfully stagnant, the attention to detail in the synthesis of these sounds comes across rudimentary, and the creativity in the vocal processing that turned her and her guests into supporting characters in the Oil of Every Pearl's Un-insides expansive, other-worldly universe is sadly absent.

The record gets off to a horrendous start. We have an ambient piece that serves as the intro, which is merely passable, although entirely too long for an intro. Then we get the mind-numbingly sparse RAWWWWWW which features heavily auto-tuned vocals by Jozzy that gratingly ping-pong across the stereo field. Next, we get perhaps the most experimental track on the record, Plunging Asymptotes, which I think tries to be as jarring as cuts like Not Okay, however, it is far too clumsily assembled to really catch someone off guard. We then get an even lengthier ambient track that has absolutely no progression aside from the narrative delivered via some form of artificial intelligence (I'm guessing it's actually credited to Nina Kraviz). Following this, I feel like we get some genuine attempts at pop songs with Reason Why, Live In My Truth, and Why Lies. Unfortunately, all three songs are just made up of a single relatively tame idea, stretched to last four minutes, and the singing is not strong enough to distract from how monotonous the instrumentals are.

As if the tracklisting wasn't already confusing, we are dropped into a suite of instrumental club raves that span three tracks. They succeed in emulating the vibe of a dance floor, but don't really provide the intellectual stimulation that would entice me to listen to this in any other context. It's not until Exhilarate that I actually hear a sound I find interesting; it has this cybernetic squelch that could fit right into any modern sci-fi film. I'm also pretty captivated by the vocals here. I just wish they didn't treat the vocals with the same obnoxious delay setting they use on every other track to feature a prominent vocal. The next track, Always and Forever featuring Hannah Diamond would probably have to be my favourite track if I was forced to pick one. The childlike naïveté that embodies Diamond's vocals are particularly heartbreaking especially when the imagery of always being together, shining in the sky, and transcending space and time is portrayed through the lyrics.

I really struggle to believe this was SOPHIE's vision for the follow-up to the excellent Oil of Every Pearl's Un-insides. The collection comes across as a docile, uninteresting, and mishandled curation of ideas that she didn't have the chance to turn into a fully realized body of work. SOPHIE's repertoire of skills are not under-utilized, they are entirely missing. Long has stated that there is a lot more unreleased music that could potentially come out pending SOPHIE's family and most trusted friends give their blessing. But frankly, if this was the material that was the closest to being finished, I don't think it would be in anyone's best interest to complete her unfinished works. Let's stop gambling with people's legacies.