A mischievously distorted “doo doot doo doo” announced the arrival of a singular artist in 2013. The track, Bipp, was not Sophie’s very first release. But this early, abstract banger ushered in a series of formally daring singles, later compiled as 2015’s Product album; warped earworms that were impossible to dislodge.
It was as though Aphex Twin had swallowed a 12-year-old girl’s Spotify account. This was playful, synthetic pop music – songs about love, or just as often, fizzy drinks – pared back to an austere digital minimalism; sounds so crisp and trickly, they sounded like CGI for the ears. And yet for all its foregrounded artifice, Sophie’s work spoke of heartache and yearning; of human connection. “I can make you feel better,” promised Bipp, kindly.
