Sophie May quietly confronts herself on ‘Touch Me’
It’s easy to quickly listen to a delicately crafted indie ballad like Sophie May’s ‘Touch Me’ and reach for the word soft as its defining characteristic.
We’ve had soft rock, lo-fi pop and laid-back indie are useful prefixes to describe that warm feeling a song like this evokes. But peel back the layers, and what exists inside is anything but. In fact, there’s a confident hardiness to the sentiment that contradicts the cuddly disposition of its arrangement.
May might be dewy in her vocal performance, channelling that sort of post-break-up helplessness. But really, there is nothing soft about the honesty with which she deals with herself in this song, confronting all of the behavioural vices that appear in the haze of a relationship ending.
“‘Touch Me’ at its heart is a break-up song,” she explained, adding, “It’s that kind of yearning, pathetic feeling you get straight after a relationship ends. You know what you should do (ie flee and run for the hills), but critical thinking skills are no match against hormones.”
There is a quiet ferocity to May’s voice as she grapples with this conflict. Sure, it’s hushed and vulnerable, but equally as resistant to change as it rides the melody she’s crafted and follows its turns without any faltering.
Perhaps more interestingly, though, ‘Touch Me’ leaves plenty of room for sonic pivot in her upcoming album Stars And Teeth. There’s enough delicacy for her to fully embrace folk, which would be an ample companion for the quiet whisper of her voice. But similarly, on ‘Touch Me’, May proves she has an acute sense for atmospheric chord progressions, which could be flipped into any realm of experimental indie she might like on the upcoming record.
Her collaboration with prolific songwriter Matthew Maltese proves to be a fruitful one, as his warm approach to production and arrangement can be found dripping all over this song.
Across his discography with Celeste, Tom Misch, and now May, he’s proven that he has a knack for drawing out the intimate sensibilities of any given artist, almost as though their voice and song feel like two best friends innocently playing together – which on ‘Touch Me’ is strikingly apparent.
In comparison to May’s previous single from the record, ‘Another Song For The End Of The World’, this feels like a slightly safer performance.
But nevertheless, this feels like a strong outing from May in what is likely to be an intensely complete debut record from her, that highlights her ability to establish a well-defined sound, which hinges on her impeccable vocal range and delicate choice of arrangement.
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