SOFY

ANNOUNCES DEBUT ALBUM HOW TO PERFORM MAGIC

OUT 25TH SEPTEMBER

SHARES LEAD SINGLE ‘DOOYAA’

“Pure brilliance” DORK

“Hooky, vivid and resonant” DIY

"One of the most exciting names in UK indie” Wonderland

“She's one of those artists that finds the art in everyday life” Jess Iszatt, BBC Introducing Radio 1

Hotly-tipped Leicester-via-London songwriter SOFY today unveils the news of her highly-anticipated debut album, How To Perform Magic, out on the 25th of September via independent release. The news arrives alongside ‘DooYaa’, a tongue-in-cheek slice of britpop brilliance that scowls at nepotism prevailing over earned merit.

The album – written and recorded in Camden with longtime collaborator and bandmate Edward Denholm in almost total isolation, and later mixed by Mercury Prize-nominated Nathan Boddy (Olivia Dean, Oklou, Nilufer Yanya) – draws it title from one of the album’s key songs, and SOFY’s favourite track, ‘How To Perform Magic’: “I’m a magician, and for my favourite trick, I’ll ruin everything! It’s quite incredible.” It’s a line about self confidence colliding with self destruction - one that resonated deeply with her reality and inner dialogue.

cred: Oliver Day

Written in the midst of intensive digital burnout, mounting industry frustrations, and the heavy emotional rollercoaster that comes with your late 20s, the record captures SOFY becoming untethered. From the outside, all appeared bright: a FIFA soundtrack placement, a loyal fanbase (or army of “rats”, as they call themselves), Glastonbury appearances, sold-out shows across the country, opening for Sabrina Carpenter, Liam Gallagher and Kasabian, and praise from Arlo Parks, Sam Fender and Yungblud…not a bad feat considering she has built her career with no major label backing, and her management handled by her best friend.

However, beneath the surface was burnout, pressure, and a spiralling mental decline. “It’s a symptom of this fast food culture of music over the past few years,” she notes of virality culture. It affected every aspect of her life. Her attention span, her creativity, even her relationships. Temporarily removing herself from the online sphere was the only way to ensure she wouldn’t circle the drain. “I actually feel like me again.”

“I’ve always felt like songwriting is its own kind of magic… but at that time, it genuinely felt like the only thing that could fix everything was waving a magic wand,” she admits.

Catharsis, and a sense of renaissance is a prominent feature in the record. The album traverses themes of dejection, imposter syndrome, disillusion carried by guitar-led melancholy, dusty breakbeats, reverb soaked vocals and low-slung basslines; in the quintessential SOFY manner, it’s unflinching (and even a touch sardonic) in its honesty, but at the forefront is a distinct willingness, a burning passion, and a refusal to let go of something she loves so dearly.

PRE-SAVE/PRE-ORDER HOW TO PERFORM MAGIC HERE

"I love DooYaa, it’s one of my favourite songs I’ve ever written. Its strength is definitely in its sarcasm.” SOFY notes on the lead single. The track was during a period when she was balancing two jobs to support her music, and doing everything in her power to keep momentum as an independent artist.

“I felt really frustrated seeing others handed opportunities through nepotism, industry connections, or major labels. So this song is a huge two fingers up to the hype machine."

cred: Oliver Day

LISTEN TO ‘DOOYAA’ HERE

Leicestershire-born, London-based SOFY has many tricks up her sleeve, but the alchemy that lies within her debut album How To Perform Magic has darker ties than one might first expect. It turns out, transformation can come at quite a cost.

Written and recorded in Camden with longtime collaborator and bandmate Edward Denholm in total isolation, and later mixed by Mercury Prize-nominated Nathan Boddy (Olivia Dean, Oklou, Nilufer Yanya), How To Perform Magic uses touchstones like Massive Attack, early The xx, and Radiohead, the latter of which she shares a particular kinship with; OK Computer, one of her favourite albums, was released the month she was born, while Thom Yorke was the same age when he wrote it as she is now. “I feel weirdly connected to it,” she confesses.

Any attempt to strongly channel those influences was short-lived, quickly giving way to the deeply personal and introspective nature of the record. “Whenever we tried to go in with an idea and be like ‘we want this song to sound like this’ it always ended up getting scrapped because it didn’t feel right,” she explains. “We were basically just following our instincts completely.” The result is an enchanting blend of trip hop, garage rock, britpop and breakbeats from an artist who refuses to be put in a box, but knows exactly what she wants to say.

That same instinct bleeds into the visual world surrounding How To Perform Magic. A far cry from her previous bubblegum, boldly coloured visuals, SOFY took to an allegedly haunted derelict school to lean into her new-found warped aesthetic. Think gothic-grunge Alice In Wonderland, meets post-apocalyptic fever dream. There’s doll heads in jars, life sized rabbits, horror movie inflections creeping in; it’s a stark shift, one that makes it clear that murkier times have left their mark.

She was now contemplating if she had been chasing a dream that wasn’t going to fully materialise. How could something she’d been striving towards for years make her so unhappy? “I felt like I couldn't tell anyone, it felt wrong to complain about a path that I chose myself. Nobody forced me to pursue it, and I quit a perfectly fine job to do this instead because I wanted to.”

The lighthearted, fun music she was known for making had left her feeling totally isolated. The love for that era of sound remained, but it no longer reflected who she was. The world now felt much heavier, as reflected in the gritter sound and themes reverberating throughout the debut.

“For better or worse, music is still the love of my life, and probably always will be.” She remarks.

Through it all, SOFY sees songwriting as a kind of sorcery; a way of turning an overwhelming and chaotic chapter into something tangible on her own terms. How To Perform Magic stands as a tribute to that transformative power, setting the tone for her largest, most personal chapter yet.

SOFY Live:

14/06 - Discovery Festival, Plymouth *

04/07 - Finsbury Park, London +

01/08: SOFY - Valley Fest, UK

* supporting The Libertines

+ supporting Kasabian

SOFY Online:

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