PRODUCT
Short, sweet, and wildly kinetic, SOPHIE\'s debut album goes off like a chain reaction in a bouncy-ball factory. Stripping pop melodies and club rhythms down to their essence, the UK producer delights in detuned trance stabs and hiccupping freestyle on \"Bipp,\" and on \"Lemonade\" she unleashes teakettle squeal and hypnotic bubblegum pop. She can go dark: \"L.O.V.E.\" buzzes with ominous drones, and \"Msmsmsm\" is a maelstrom of metallic trap drums. But on \"Hard,\" \"Vyzee,\" and \"Just Like We Never Said Goodbye,\" playful rhythms and spine-tingling synths keep the mood positively giddy.
When music from the twisted pop project SOPHIE first emerged in 2013, it sounded state-of-the-art. Those early singles, gathered here with some newer material, still sparkle, but the problem with PRODUCT, ironically enough, is one of format.
London producer Samuel Long creates a peculiar language of restless hyperactivity on debut album
"We can go crazy and go pop," a helium-laden voice chirps on Product, the cheekily named singles collection from SOPHIE, which was also sold as platform shoes, sunglasses, and a puffy jacket.
Although SOPHIE, aka Samuel Long, first drew attention in 2013 for "Nothing More to Say," it was the undeniable plastic pop of "Bipp" that r...
If one were to focus only on the helium-high vocals that run the entire way through Product, it would be all too easy to write off U.K. producer SOPHIE as an immaterial, hyper pop wannabe.
Producer Samuel Long expands pop’s parameters on his irrepressible, state-of-the-art debut
Review of 'Product' by Sophie, the singer/songwriter's album is available today, via Numbers. The current single "VYZEE" is now streaming.
MP3 dildos aside, Product has nothing new to add to the conversation about pop’s relationship to artifice and consumerism