After years balancing hospital shifts, singer songwriter Gordi – aka Sophie Payten – is back headlining stages and ready to release a new album.
Like Plasticine is out Friday, 8 August, and the Canowindra-raised artist, fresh from months of international touring, will be home and performing at the Museum of Contemporary Art this weekend.
It’s the first full Gordi album since Our Two Skins in 2020, and she’s excited to share this music with the world, sharing her thoughts via email with The Canowindra News in the lead up.
“I have known this record for so long and I feel relieved and ecstatic that other people get to hear it now, too,” Sophie said.
“While I’ve been impatient at times, I’m also glad that releasing this record hasn’t felt rushed as I worked really long and hard on it.”
Latest Stories
Sophie’s story, blending medicine and music, is an incredible one and this marks a return to stage and studio.
“Throughout the pandemic I was working pretty solidly in hospitals and performing was rare, and I found it difficult to write anything during that time,” she said.
“But the past year or so I’ve been able to shift my focus largely back to music, and I suspect (and hope!) it will be that way for a while.”
Sophie’s had an incredible few months of touring across the United States and United Kingdom, performing from Times Square to European festival stages.
“As I write I’ve just come off stage in Barcelona playing in front of a few thousand people opening for Foster the People - which is up there,” Sophie said.
“It’s been really fulfilling to be back playing shows these past few months.
“The Times Square billboard and hearing Kelly Clarkson talk about my record were true highlights too. But probably the peak was playing a sold out headline show in London, I feel really grateful to people who have been listening to my music for a long time.”
Like Plasticine, she explains, is essentially a record about the agony and the ecstasy of change – about what truly transforms us during our life.
“Falling in love, experiencing grief, reckoning with our identity, growing up,” Sophie explained.
“What will be familiar, I think, is the emotion at the heart of these songs, what might be different is the execution.”
While you can preview and pre-order the album on online platforms, Like Plasticine can be ordered on vinyl and Payten says there’s just “nothing quite like it”.
“The best way to listen to this record is from start to finish on a record player in the living room,” she said.
“The cover image is also beautiful - it was taken by a friend of mine, Haley Min Young Kreofsky, and it so perfectly captures what I spent an album trying to describe.”
There’s so much coming up for this Australian talent: with performances scheduled for Australia, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands and Denmark in coming months.
Later this year, she will be touring Australian cities with David Gray.
Album and live show information all online at https://www.gordimusic.com/
