Australian indie-pop singer, songwriter and producer Gordi – aka Sophie Payten – announces her third studio solo album, Like Plasticine, out May 30th via Mushroom Music. Like Plasticine chronicles the last few transformative years of Gordi’s life. From coming out and having to adjust the vision of her future, to working as a doctor on the frontline during the pandemic, Gordi explores the beauty, heartbreak and finite nature of human experience across 12 gorgeous new songs.
She celebrates the announce with the release of “Peripheral Lover,” a celebratory queer, pop anthem that blends yearning, sensitive lyrics with a contagious synth beat, positioning Gordi alongside Robyn, Róisín Murphy and other masters of the craft. The song was mixed by Rich Costey (Death Cab For Cutie, HAIM, Sigur Ros). The unapologetically celebration of a video was directed by Jared Frieder and produced by Daniel Dubiecki (JUNO). The two has worked in tandem a few years ago as Gordi collaborated with friend Troye Sivan on their song “Wait” for Frieder’s film Three Months. Together, Gordi and Frieder put a call out to any non-male queer people in Dallas who were up for coming to the shoot and making out with a total stranger – unsurprisingly, an abundance of people showed up.
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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO “PERIPHERAL LOVER”
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “PERIPHERAL LOVER”
“I was thinking about the beginnings of queer relationships,” Gordi reflects on the origins of the new song, “I’m talking real early, like so early that at least one person is still in the closet. Accepting the available love instead of it orbiting around you. There comes a breaking point, a demand, a pleading for honesty – and the relationship either explodes into the open, or melts from the periphery away into nothing. From these thoughts, “Peripheral Lover” was born. It exploded into being in about 3 hours.”
Alongside the effervescent, euphoric pop of “Peripheral Lover,” Like Plasticine features the drama and intrigue of the fractured, experimental and recent single “Alien Cowboy,” the pain and anguish of songs like “PVC Divide” and more tender moments like the absolute gift of last year’s “Lunch At Dune.” Throughout, Gordi’s vocals are at the fore, layered over experimental, intelligent production. No two songs are the same, each its own unique part of the whole. All songs are charged with emotion and insight, taking the listener on a breathtaking, cerebral journey along the highs and lows of Gordi’s life (and in part their own).
“On the first page of my notebook – where all the songs from this record are written – I wrote in the top corner “inject emotion into everything”. It was about making the music as undaunted as the stories within it.”
ABOUT GORDI
An award-winning and beloved Aussie export with tens of millions of streams to her name across DSPs, Gordi has an impressive catalogue and history behind her, including two full-length album releases and collaborations with Troye Sivan, Bon Iver, Ben Bohmer, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and more. The documentation of her journey through self-discovery, sexuality and identity shines through on albums Reservoir and Our Two Skins, the latter of which was recognised with an AIR Award and nominated for an ARIA and two J Awards. Gordi also co-wrote the theme song to the Oscar-nominated animated feature film The Mitchells vs the Machines. She has completed extensive tours of Australia, the US and Europe, solo and also with artists such as Bon Iver, The Tallest Man On Earth and Gang of Youths.
Last year’s Lunch At Dune EP, which saw a collaboration with Irish artist SOAK, and current single ‘Alien Cowboy’ have received press love from the likes of DORK, The Line of Best Fit, Brooklyn Vegan, Stereogum, Rolling Stone, Under The Radar and Atwood Magazine amongst others, along with global airplay from the likes of BBC 1, BBC 6, Radio X, Sirius XM, KEXP and more.
