Sophie Hunger

Sophie Hunger – Halluzinationen (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 36:12 minutes | 817 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Virgin Music UK

The incredible Sophie Hunger. For her seventh album, recorded in Abbey Road Studios in London, the Swiss national subverts modern conventional practices and records herself in one take, challenging herself to avoid any postproduction corrections. An incredible feat that, created by the spontaneity of the recording, explores electric liveliness (Halluzinationen), bold 80s textures (Alpha Venom, Everything Is Good), folk nudity (Stranger) and sophisticated jazz (Maria Magdalena). These varied sounds evoke, here and there, the sweet madness found in MGMT’s work, or even Radiohead’s melancholic purity (Liquid Air, Bad Medication). Greatly diverse in its musical direction, Halluzinationen, hits all the right notes.

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Sophie Hunger – Molecules (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:15 minutes | 832 MB | Genre: Folk, Indie Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Virgin Music UK

For ten years, Sophie Hunger has been making enchanting folk music. A woman with hybrid tastes, the Swiss musician sometimes even steps out into jazz, when she isn’t touring pop or rock. Today, her curiosity is taking her even further afield, with this album, written in Berlin and full of electro sounds. Molecules is a pleasing work that opens strongly with a politically-conscious track: She Makes The President. Given that she wrote the soundtrack to My Life as a Zucchini, this number sounds like it comes straight from an American blockbuster. And with good reason! Written before the election of Donald Trump, Sophie Hunger is imagining the victory of a badass woman in the Presidential race. A prog beat, a minimalist, catchy chorus, and subsequent political developments give the album greater weight. Then the film plunges ahead, each scene more surprising than the last. A double agent on acoustic guitar (Silver Lane), a chase scene with phantom beats (Tricks), African rhythms (I Open A Bar) and a romantic Franglais finale (Coucou). Sophie Hunger’s music makes for living tableaux that swarm with details. This is a record halfway between work of art and scientific experiment. – Clara Bismuth

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