The debut album, I thought I Was An Alien, by French singer/songwriter, Soko is a bit like reading the diary of an angsty and miserable martian. It has the addictive frailty of broken youth that is so refreshing and honest. At
times it feels like she is painfully unsure of herself, despite being genuinely charming but then brilliant strength bleeds out as the album wears on. Often orchestral and immense and then just as frequently toned down and
sparsely acoustic, this is a richly diverse introduction to new talent. It’s utterly relative to those going through emotional turmoil and playing with ideas of existence, love and loss.
In the song that shares the same title as the name of the the album, she combines weird machine-like samples with charming simple and sweet indie-pop melodies. These are strummed out herself to accompany her awkwardly lisped lyrics, draped in a silvery French accent.
One of the most delicious songs on the album is ‘First Love Never Die’. Soko manages to arrange melodies that jump moodily from the bashfully happy chorus to upset and progressively darker verses. Her strong instrumental
composition is hung with webs of croaked out pleas to an unknown lover, “Can you feel the same? I will never love again.” It ends abruptly on what appears to be the brass section of an orchestra.
‘Don’t You Touch Me’ is the scornful, aghast tantrum directed at the rather horrid ex-lover again. It’s vibrant and colourful folk with her unique edgy adolescent emotion building up and breaking down, leaving the familiar theme of satisfied despair.
