While perhaps a bit tame compared to the most out-of-left-field stuff I've ever encountered, Sophie really made 2018 her year with this fantastic debut after years of being in the shadows of other people's output. Who would have thought that something with such an abstract ambient influence with industrial and vaporwave twinges would have captured the imagination of people who normally wouldn't touch experimental music witha 10 foot pole?

While she's not quite up there yet in sheer pop smarts like KNOWER or the Quincy Jones-groomed Jacob Collier, it is hard to argue with the dynamics of opening ballad 'It's Okay To Cry', a deceptive yet killer single which should stoke the imagination of anyone who fell in love with Kate Bush during her weirdest moments, or the gorgeous yet terrifying cinematic feeling that 'Pretending' brings on like a light through the clouds. It doesn't hurt that there's real dancefloor potential with 'Ponyboy' as well, a track that has yielded seemingly infinite remixes and covers on YouTube so far with no end in sight.

My point of view is that anything that bends the mainstream even a little bit towards the beautiful, more esoteric side of art is certainly not a bad thing. And that's what Sophie does in spades. Here's to a long and illustrious career!