On SOPHIE…

There’s a part of me that considers my teenage self a complete idiot. For one, she absolutely should have realised that she was trans way sooner than she did. But, god, did she not realise the proximity to experiencing actual cool trans art she had. I first listened to Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides (2018) around the time my egg was starting to crack circa mid-2021. Immaterial was the anthem of my early transition, but that whole album is genuinely a masterpiece — not just of trans music, nor even electronic music, but of music, period. As a pioneer of the Hyperpop sound, SOPHIE was way ahead the curve. Artists like Charlie XCX (a frequent collaborator with SOPHIE) have gone on to finally let hyperpop have its big mainstream moment in the 2020s. Another of SOPHIE’s contemporaries — one of my favourite artists growing up, and arguably the reason I make music — Flume, is someone who is so clearly inspired by SOPHIE’s sound. You can almost chart, in individual tracks, SOPHIE’s influence taking hold over his composition and production style. Skin (2016), his second album, has arguably his most popular track — Never Be Like You. It also contains one of his most controversial: Wall Fuck. It is arguably the track most evocative of SOPHIE on the album. Wall Fuck’s clippy, distorted, loud, bombastic feel juxtaposes moments of beautiful harmony with crippling distortion. Far too much for the poppy consumers of Never Be Like You. It’s a sound that defined his next two works. Flume went on to directly collaborate with SOPHIE on his next release, Hi This Is Flume (2019). It remains my favourite project of his, and his two tracks working with SOPHIE (his and Eprom’s remix of Is It Cold In The Water?, and the track Voices) are the two best on the album mixtape. As a huge fan of his work, I distinctly remember him calling out SOPHIE as an inspiration since the release of Skin. Hell, he even toured Skin with SOPHIE as one of the support acts after the album’s release in 2016. SOPHIE tragically passed away in January 2021, in a loss was profoundly felt across the music industry. SOPHIE is rightly hailed as a visionary, a pioneer, and an icon. The point of this, I suppose, is a reflection on how adjacent I was, but never engaged with, an artist who has gone on to help define my adult life. How I experienced SOPHIE distilled through Flume, and the influence SOPHIE had on him. Tonight, I stumbled upon this video from a show in Brisbane Flume did back in 2022. Its a clip of him dedicating the final song of his album Palaces to his good friend SOPHIE. The respect and heart with which he speaks genuinely touched me. Flumes Sophie Tribute (Brisbane) byu/Admirable_Stress9753 inSophie It was only after I spent 15 minutes bawling my eyes out did I realise something. I was at Flume’s 2016 Skin tour. I got to see SOPHIE perform live… and I never realised that until tonight. “I got to the venue today, and I’ve walked up, past the dressing rooms and I got triggered! SOPHIE’s no longer with us but we had some really great times in Aus, and we had some good chats, and SOPHIE was transitioning at the time and anyways… I just want to dedicate this track to SOPHIE. I don’t know if you know who SOPHIE is, but SOPHIE is one of the motherfucking greats. One of the best to ever do it.”