Oxford's Julia-Sophie shares new single and video "I Wish", the first track taken from her second EP ‘</3’ (heart-broken).
Building on the success of her debut EP 'y?' earlier this year, Julia-Sophie makes a prompt return with the introspective new single ‘i wish’ - the first track taken from her second EP ‘</3’ (heart-broken).
There is a more anchored and earthly feel to the production in this track, emphasised by the contrasting, spectral vocals of Julia-Sophie. Her mesmerising voice is delicately embroidered over intricate electronics and ricocheting beats, a signature sound the artist is becoming known for.
“I was brought up believing that life would be a certain way, but I’ve come to understand, through heart-ache, that these beliefs weren’t my own and that I was living a life that wasn’t mine;
it was the life that other people dreamed of for me.
Over the last year, I’ve had to fight and break hearts, to become the person I was meant to be; to live my own truth. I wanted to reflect this broken hearted journey in ‘I wish’, by breaking out of classic song structure and experimenting with form; life and love has it’s own journey, there are no
rules and there shouldn’t be any expected structure. love, life and art should be free.”
For Julia-Sophie, music is a point of endless return: it’s in her blood. After years of playing in Motown signed rock band Little Fish and, more recently, dream pop collective Candy Says, supporting everyone from Debbie Harry to Idles and The Japanese House, Julia-Sophie has finally found her hullabaloo within the storm. Earning her place in the avant-pop sisterhood of FKA Twigs, Grimes, Half-Waif and Natasha Kahn, Julia-Sophie’s palette is a mix of the hot, liquid, cool and electric: she sings of desire and loss, control and release.
These are songs about finding truth from pain; her French heritage and songwriter roots incline her towards the philosophical, melodic and pensive. The songs from Julia-Sophie’s forthcoming EP ‘</3’ (heart-broken), form partial translations of the depths we struggle to say, the struggles and blisses that rub against language. For all her spectral vocals, ethereal refrains, glimmering synths, and ricocheting beats, there’s something earthy and intimate here: a determinism and passion for process that’s all her own, in the click of a vintage drum-machine.
From the unanimously detested 2020, a year characterised by chaos, stasis, cancellations and postponements for the music industry comes one final gem: Slow Dance ‘20. The London label’s annual collection is a 16-track smorgasbord of of characteristically genre-fluid picks, spanning all manner of electronic music from harsh techno to expansive ambience, lo-fi bedroom productions, some of the most exciting new bands and solo artists selected from every corner of their network and beyond.
With the label releasing one track per day throughout January with the entire album out on 26th January, 2021 begins with its own advent calendar of surprises.
Slow Dance ‘20 compilation will be available here.
Previous compilations have been a disclosure of what's brewing in the UK underground, previously featuring early tracks from otta, Khazali and Lynks, as well as solo debuts from members of Sorry, black midi and Goat Girl.
As the fifth edition of compilation series, those in the know look forward to it every year, with Slow Dance being praised by International media as ‘cutting edge’ players at the forefront of the London DIY music scene and a ‘creative powerhouse’ by Pitchfork. Last year’s compilation was described as a ‘testament to the label’s commitment to multi-genre excellence’. Despite the trials and tribulations of the year just gone, Slow Dance ‘20 is a varied and defiantly innovative release that proves that the music industry can and will give a platform to forward-thinking, outside-the-box music, moreover making the point that it must make an effort to champion new ideas and commit to independent artists who need support now more than ever.
Julia Sophie - I Wish
Order here