Sophie’s first official full-length record is a victory lap touching on all the styles she’s ushered in and subsequently watched folded into the zeitgeist, from hyperpop to *deconstructed club music* (insert meme). The album’s been out digitally for 6 months already, and thankfully, Sophie & the PC Music crew’s petty aversion to physical formats is cast aside to mark the occasion of this huge record with a deluxe vinyl edition. Opener “It’s Okay To Cry” showcases Sophie’s unwavering commitment to pop perfection before moving into more opaque territory with the junkyard dubstep of “Ponyboy” and “Faceshopping.” Her influences are on full display, albeit a bit warped and dissolved like they’re appearing in a perverse dream; “Infatuation” resembles Burial’s timestretched reveries, and “Is It Cold In The Water” sounds like Kate Bush riding the Mentasm riddim. The disorienting drone of “Pretending” feels like you’re on promethazine in one of the flying car scenes from Blade Runner, and this recurring dystopic hypercolor is the thread that runs through the duration of Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides, like the soundtrack for a film adaptation of one of PKD’s craziest joints. For the epic climax, Sophie conjures Lemonade-era futurepop bliss on the kaleidoscopic “Immaterial,” which objectively goes hard AF, even for someone who's typically skeptical of this type of stuff. The sleeve vaguely credits appearances by Noonie Bao, Cecile Believe, Banoffee and Industry Plant, but as you’d expect from an artist as elusive as Sophie, it’s impossible to tell at any given time if it's Sophie singing, or one of the aforementioned guests, or if they’re even real people at all.

• 'pearl sunrise' colored vinyl
• indie exclusive
• gatefold sleeve
• limited edition
• original release year: 2018
• music label: Future Classic 2026

reviewed by tom violence 01/2019