The enduring impact of Sophie’s debut album ‘Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides’
In 2018, Scottish electronic producer and songwriter Sophie released her debut album, Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. A masterclass in experimentation with genre, she plays with avant-garde hyper-pop, glitching industrial electronic and danceable bubblegum. The record spans just as many themes as it does genres, discussing gender, sex, infatuation, appearance, and acceptance. The LP is regarded as a groundbreaking release in hyper-pop, pushing the boundaries of electronic production and gaining Sophie a Grammy nomination. Five years on, the project is just as innovative and futuristic as when it was first released.
In nine tracks and just under 40 minutes, the album is unrelenting, guiding listeners through bass-heavy soundscapes, catchy pop beats, and ever-changing vocals. Opening track ‘It’s Okay To Cry’ is a deceptively soft introduction to the record, pairing sparkling synths with Sophie’s gentle words of acceptance, promising: “There’s a world inside you, it’s okay to cry”. The track is beautifully produced, forgoing the intensity of much of the album to create an air of comfort. It is a sonic embrace.
But this tenderness is quickly abandoned as Sophie launches into ‘Ponyboy’, a glitchy, distorted electronic track with modulated vocals and erotic lyricism surrounding sex and gender. The track is unrelenting, both in its harsh lyrics and industrial instrumentation, as Sophie moans: “He is just a pony, she is just a pony, they is just a pony”.
‘Faceshopping’ is just as intense, pairing ear-piercing synths with spoken vocals. It acts as a commentary on the deceptive nature of appearances surrounding the central metaphor, which likens the face to a shop front. Listeners are only afforded a brief respite from the dense soundscape as the track transitions into glistening synths and Sophie’s melodic vocals beg, “Set my spirit free”. But this break doesn’t last long, as she plunges back into the chorus, declaring: “My face is the real shop front, my shop is the face I front, I’m real when I shop my face”.
‘Is It Cold In The Water?’ is perhaps the most vulnerable track on the album, pairing more soft synths with emotive lyrics that lament, “Soft ache me, earth-shaking, I feel alone”. The track was later reworked by Flume for the 2019 mixtape Hi This Is Flume, incorporating heavier moments of distinctively Flume-style production. Meanwhile, the penultimate track, ‘Immaterial’, is the album’s biggest pop hit, a bouncy track that contemplates existence and materiality. It’s endlessly danceable and full of life.
Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides achieves a feat most albums don’t – it’s absolutely unforgettable. It’s a vibrant sonic portrait of Sophie in all of her emotional and musical complexity, as well as a celebration of the variety and universality of human experience. Sophie’s futuristic production delved into depths of sonic experimentation few others had reached, and the influence of Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides can still be felt across PC Music and the wider electronic sphere.
Sophie provided her peers in the hyper-pop genre with the courage and tools to push pop to its limits. As Sophie collaborators and admirers, such as Charli XCX and Arca, take the baton from her and run with it, it’s important to recognise her unparalleled influence on the scene’s increasingly unique and experimental sound.
On Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, Sophie opened up a whole new world of sound.
