Sophie is a producer working at the crossroads between cute and creepy; his enigmatic songs and shows are incredibly unique - sometimes scarily so - and it's comforting to see his profile rise with every new release. Lemonade/Hard, his newest 12" single, contains "Lemonade", a song that demonstrates beautifully the dichotomy of Sophie's music as it's comprised of two separate,
but ingeniously entwined, parts, with its verses featuring an ambivalent woman distortedly chanting "lemonade luh-luh-lemonade" to gurgling bass and sporadic, fizzling synthesizers, leading up to the listener being blindsided by a sugar-drunk chorus of feather-light hits and twinkling, euphoric plinks right out of a music box. The previously apathetic vocalist is rejuvenated, belting out lines like "I've got something to tell you/hope you understand/I never meant to hurt you/it wasn't in my hands," then, as quickly as this detour was introduced, it transitions to pure bass before going back to the "luh-luh-lemonade" verse. The entire song runs just shy of 2 minutes, and no matter how many times you replay the track, the mood whiplash never gets any softer.

It's this willingness to bend convention and fuse two disparate elements like cuteness and creepiness that makes Sophie such an irreplaceable gem of the electronic music scene, as what he's doing feels without precedent, and his live show completely encapsulates it. While most electronic music producers, specifically those in the EDM scene, stick to floor-fillers and staples of their respective genres to maintain the interest of the audience (which, mind you, is no easy feat), Sophie has never been one to compromise his vision; during #JustJam, a music festival in London, a video leaked of Sophie's 20 some-odd minute live set, and what the video contained was essentially 20 minutes of droning bass, wobbly, unstable synths, followed by pitch perfect abrupt shifts to unexpectedly sugarcoated bangers, most of them previously unheard. Audience response, as I found out, was that of confusion, frustration, and, apparently, amazement. The video ends with "Hey QT", a still unreleased bit of pure, gooey ear candy brilliance that caps off the set in a rush of "Hey Mickey" worship, sounding like a team of cheerleaders performing from within hollowed out speakers, and the dazzled crowd cheering as a host announces the end of the set. "Make some noise for for Sophie!" he cries, to a blip of uproarious applause before the video promptly ends. "That was some... next level shit!" Much like with post-rock/"punishing rock" band Swans, the experience Sophie peddles with his show is part and parcel to his music, even if you aren't enjoying it 100% of the time, and "Lemonade" is a perfect microcosm of what the #holyshit moments of #JustJam were about.

Sophie's resistance to being photographed, instead using press photos of a blonde woman in flamboyantly bright clothing, usually sipping on a similarly bright drink, makes the music singular as part of the "Sophie" idea, which also includes his delightfully abstract album art. This focus on aesthetics and music instead of personality or personal image is mirrored with miracle label PC Music, which excels in delivering the same uncannily cute combination of different media types (if you haven't heard of PC Music before, GO NOW TO THE SITE. Their music is seriously addictive, much like sugar itself.) Less intoxicated, less candy addicted naysayers may decry what I am about to say, but I firmly believe a "bubblegum-bass" boom is in the cards for this year. At least, I sincerely hope it is.

It's no wonder that professional weirdo Kyary Pamyu Pamyu found so much common ground with Sophie - enough so that they were recently in the studio together. Although I look forward to the fruits of their collaboration somewhere down the line with bated breath, for now it's good to focus on what is currently available; B-side "Hard", while fairly different from "Lemonade" on the surface, uses those same key moments of abrasive one second, toothsome the next during its chorus, and likewise finds success, maybe moreso than "Lemonade" as it feels more cohesive as a song, in addition to being a whole minute longer, leaving more to sink one's teeth into. Its buoyant, yet bladed, percussion and unhinged composition makes it more dance-friendly as well, for what that's worth, and contextualizes the Lemonade/Hard release as king of the 2014 dance sound. Along with PC Music, it shows a wonderful trend of electronic music moving away from boring, overly familiar sounds to fresh, new ideas that aren't afraid to trash expectations, with producers preferring to make music that genuinely excites and brims with pure creative energy. All Sophie needs to do now is announce an album and I will be eternally happy.