Sofia Isella – ‘Something Is a Shell’ EP review: Stare straight at the ugly evil of the world
The world is ugly, and evil is all around us. While Sofia Isella’s last EP dealt with the internal world of that fact and the often dark place art comes from, on Something Is a Shell, it’s as if the darkness of the reality around us cannot be held off any longer.
The Skinny: We have to confront it head-on. With the public release of the Epstein files, what emerged was the confirmation that parts of this world are influenced by paedophiles, abusers and those willing to turn a blind eye to them. It was not just the exposure of Epstein’s own crimes, which were vile enough even through layers of redactions, but the suggestion of a wider network involving many powerful figures. A name appearing was not a guilty verdict, but with little justice following the revelations, despite the involvement of politicians, royals, world leaders and wealthy business figures, the result has been a lingering sense of anger and disillusionment.
We’re left to just keep living with a more certain knowledge now that the world around us is, in fact, run by evil. The worst things we can imagine aren’t under our bed but are in office buildings, schools, film sets and so on. On this EP, Isella doesn’t even need to invent a monster to basically create an audio horror movie; she simply has to point to the shadows.
On the opening track, it’s not even just a point; it’s an all-out floodlight. “Kill every woman who has had sex with a man. But save for yourselves, the young girls who have not had sex with a man,” a creepy, distorted voice reads. Akin to Ethel Cain’s Perverts, Isella makes it clear in an instant that this is not a project with any intention of being pretty. Instead, she layers sharpness upon sharpness.
“God’s quotations kill a daughter,” she sings, rolling through commentary on abuse in the name of religion, violence in the name of faith and the fact that the world would rather turn a blind eye than confront these things.
But throughout this project, Isella refuses to look away. It’s always been clear that the young artist is interested in uncomfortable art, proven in her intense live performances, creepy artworks and her love for lyrics that shock. However, on this project, it’s her interaction with the real world that is most harrowing.
“Men are titillated by that delicate line between sex song and nursery rhyme,” she says on ‘Above The Neck’, and it makes the listener feel as unclean as the subject matter should.
Putting it all brutally and uncomfortably, Isella’s works on these topics refuse to be easily engaged with. Musically, they’re still brilliant. Her voice is effortless and acrobatic, her sonics are engaging and varied, but that all feels besides the point. She’s out to back you into a corner and make you listen, throwing you into a horror movie maze that refuses to let you leave as she points out that this is just the world we live in.
Standout Track: ‘Numbers 31:17-18’
The Verdict: On Something Is a Shell, Sofia Isella’s stark look at evil in various forms is as dark as it deserves to be. It would feel more like an art piece than an EP if it weren’t also so sonically interesting. But overall, it reveals the artist as a figure devoted to saying what she thinks needs to be said, even if it’s ugly.
Release date: April 17th, 2026 | Producer: Sofia Isella & Mr Hudson | Label: Self released
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