Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides – SOPHIE Album Review

Track List

It’s Okay To Cry
Ponyboy
Faceshopping
Is It Cold In The Water?
Infatuation
Not Okay
Pretending
Immaterial
Whole New World/ Pretend World

Trying to describe the experimental, chaotic sound of SOPHIE is difficult to put into words. Heralded as forward thinking and original from various critics around the world, there’s no denying the tracks on this album are unique and unlike anything you’ve likely heard before. Then again, dipping cheese and onion crisps in strawberry yoghurt is also a unique experience – it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s pleasant or palatable though. In a bid to challenge the conventional structure of music, Oil Of Every Pearl feels like a discordant collection of synths, bass-lines and chords all wrapped up in an album lacking a consistent flow, revelling in its pretentious glee at the cacophonic structure inherent with almost every track. In layman’s terms – it’s all a bit of a mess.

The album opens with It’s Okay To Cry, a slow, melodic song that relies on a simple structure and basic lyrics before hammering relentlessly into a collection of tracks that blend sounds, rhythms, bass-lines and anything else you can think of into a 3 minute track. The result is something wholly original but alienating to those unfamiliar to this style of music. Ironically the best songs of the album are the ones that stick to the conventional musical structure rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. Immaterial, with its parodical, amusing tone, along with It’s Okay To Cry are easily the best songs on the album while the rest of the tracks fail to really stand out or make any sort of impression.

To be honest, the album would probably do really well as an accompanying soundtrack to a futuristic cyberpunk series or movie. There’s certainly enough unique, distinguishable sounds here and in this respect, Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides is worth listening to from a perspective of curiosity but this isn’t the sort of album you can chill out or dance to. In its bid to challenge the status quo, SOPHIE’s album fails to reinvent the wheel with a structure that lacks any sort of flow or sound like anything but a discordant collection of unique sounds.