STONES THROW’s intelligent Viennese chanteuse Sofie, who released one of the cleverest albums of the year with the graceful, European pop of Cult Survivor back in June (read our review here), has just shared a video for one of the loveliest tunes therein, “Try to Reach Me”. You can watch below.
The video, directed by Sofie herself in cahoots with 2Kids, is a memory cut-up of the singer FaceTiming during the current pandemic, live clips and Vienna, her hometown, all back-processed for grain and evocation through VHS tape. “Try To Reach Me” shows footage processed through VHS tape of Sofie on FaceTime during the pandemic, shots of her hometown Vienna and clips from a live online performance for Stones Throw.
“Try to Reach Me” descends on the piano, chord by chord, in the way The Kinks made so cool, with a shimmering little guitar arpeggio and a leftfield organ melody. “Try to reach me lately, I’m always around / Doesn’t matter if you think I don’t wanna be found”.
It has a real experimental indie cool, gliding and languid: an almost Cherry Red or él thang, if you will – one of those mysterious creatives who would unleash a gorgeous little record with little else to go on but the vinyl. It could find a home during the dream sequence of an Italian film, circa 1972.
Sofie herself says of the lyrical wistfulness of the song: “When you remember to grasp it, it’s already gone … situationism, Guy Debord’s separation critique, meaning in a meaningless dimension with a future nobody is counting on.”
Sofie’s Cult Survivor is available now on Stones Throw on LP and digital formats. To order, visit the label online – or your local, trusted record emporium.
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