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Hidden treasures: Soso – That Time I Dug So Deep I Ended Up in China Hidden treasures: Soso – That Time I Dug So Deep I Ended Up in China
(7 months later)
"My name is Sophia, but you can call me Soso," begins a letter posted on Swedish pop star Soso's website. "I am nothing but a so-called 'artist' with narcissistic tendencies." The cheery missive goes on to explain why the artist (sorry "artist") formerly known as Sophia Somajo decided to leave a major deal with Warner, start her own label (charmingly called Do It Yourself Bitch Productions) and then give her second album, 2012's obliquely titled That Time I Dug So Deep I Ended Up in China, away for free via the record industry's sworn enemy, Pirate Bay. "Honestly I don't care about the "music industry … I care about music," she concludes."My name is Sophia, but you can call me Soso," begins a letter posted on Swedish pop star Soso's website. "I am nothing but a so-called 'artist' with narcissistic tendencies." The cheery missive goes on to explain why the artist (sorry "artist") formerly known as Sophia Somajo decided to leave a major deal with Warner, start her own label (charmingly called Do It Yourself Bitch Productions) and then give her second album, 2012's obliquely titled That Time I Dug So Deep I Ended Up in China, away for free via the record industry's sworn enemy, Pirate Bay. "Honestly I don't care about the "music industry … I care about music," she concludes.
Regardless of how it came to be or what it was supposed to represent, That Time I Dug … is a brilliant, brutal and often baffling album that deserves wider attention for its raw and uncompromising dissection of a brain on overdrive. Channelling Soso's obsession with Joaquin Phoenix, the far east and the inside of her own Stockholm flat (she's practically an agoraphobic now) it transports the listener to another world via its uniquely captivating industrial pop melange. Written, produced and recorded by Soso in her living room, with all the accompanying artwork and videos shot between the same four walls, it has an unsettling atmosphere throughout, with her intense delivery turning a line as clunky as "We were only penpals on Facebook" into sinister murder balladry.Regardless of how it came to be or what it was supposed to represent, That Time I Dug … is a brilliant, brutal and often baffling album that deserves wider attention for its raw and uncompromising dissection of a brain on overdrive. Channelling Soso's obsession with Joaquin Phoenix, the far east and the inside of her own Stockholm flat (she's practically an agoraphobic now) it transports the listener to another world via its uniquely captivating industrial pop melange. Written, produced and recorded by Soso in her living room, with all the accompanying artwork and videos shot between the same four walls, it has an unsettling atmosphere throughout, with her intense delivery turning a line as clunky as "We were only penpals on Facebook" into sinister murder balladry.
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In fact, lyrically the album forgoes pop's current propensity for throwaway clubLOLs or self-help inanity in favour of direct blood-letting. By her own admittance, Soso is no poet, but there's something wonderfully endearing about the way she deals with finding out an ex has met someone new on the twinkly The Girl and You: "Now you've met somebody new, what the fuck is wrong with you? Think it over – you've got to leave her," she coos over fizzing synths and a basic-sounding drum machine. As she sings the line "what the fuck is wrong with you?", the music drops out briefly in suspended animation to leave Soso's voice cracking in frustration. On the creeping and creepy The Ballad, all off-kilter drum-claps and wheezing synths, she underpins the album's palpable sense of desperation with a chorus of: "If I could have one night baby, if I could be that greedy, I want to have you with me, do what you want, punish me." It sounds like it's been wrenched from her soul.In fact, lyrically the album forgoes pop's current propensity for throwaway clubLOLs or self-help inanity in favour of direct blood-letting. By her own admittance, Soso is no poet, but there's something wonderfully endearing about the way she deals with finding out an ex has met someone new on the twinkly The Girl and You: "Now you've met somebody new, what the fuck is wrong with you? Think it over – you've got to leave her," she coos over fizzing synths and a basic-sounding drum machine. As she sings the line "what the fuck is wrong with you?", the music drops out briefly in suspended animation to leave Soso's voice cracking in frustration. On the creeping and creepy The Ballad, all off-kilter drum-claps and wheezing synths, she underpins the album's palpable sense of desperation with a chorus of: "If I could have one night baby, if I could be that greedy, I want to have you with me, do what you want, punish me." It sounds like it's been wrenched from her soul.
Thankfully, there's also black humour among the heartache. After seeing the faux documentary I'm Still Here, Soso became obsessed with actor Joaquin Phoenix, penning him a love song of sorts. "I love how you got so fat, not just for the mockumentary but like before that, it's been a few years now seriously … I find it sexy as fuck," she trills over a detuned synth, before outlining how they could both live together in blissful melancholy in her flat. When not passing judgment on Hollywood A-listers' weight gain she's engaging the pop nous that saw her co-write Robyn's Time Machine alongside Max Martin on the massive Who's Gonna Love Me, which marries her love of Chinese instrumentation with a gargantuan chorus. It shows up again on the redemptive Happy People, which is built around the line "everything was beautiful and nothing hurt me" and sounds like the point where she finally opened a window in that stuffy flat of hers.Thankfully, there's also black humour among the heartache. After seeing the faux documentary I'm Still Here, Soso became obsessed with actor Joaquin Phoenix, penning him a love song of sorts. "I love how you got so fat, not just for the mockumentary but like before that, it's been a few years now seriously … I find it sexy as fuck," she trills over a detuned synth, before outlining how they could both live together in blissful melancholy in her flat. When not passing judgment on Hollywood A-listers' weight gain she's engaging the pop nous that saw her co-write Robyn's Time Machine alongside Max Martin on the massive Who's Gonna Love Me, which marries her love of Chinese instrumentation with a gargantuan chorus. It shows up again on the redemptive Happy People, which is built around the line "everything was beautiful and nothing hurt me" and sounds like the point where she finally opened a window in that stuffy flat of hers.
Fleshed out with unsettling interludes (Sab Lackath is made up of slowed-down and weirdly pitched sobbing, Maria Makes My Life is singing in tongues, while He Don't Live Here No More is a brief bar-room hoedown about a previous neighbour turned lover with a thing for dinosaurs), That Time I Dug … can be a lot to take in one sitting. It's the sound of raw heartache set to scream-through-the-tears choruses … just try not to listen to it alone in a dark winter room as I did on repeat early last year.Fleshed out with unsettling interludes (Sab Lackath is made up of slowed-down and weirdly pitched sobbing, Maria Makes My Life is singing in tongues, while He Don't Live Here No More is a brief bar-room hoedown about a previous neighbour turned lover with a thing for dinosaurs), That Time I Dug … can be a lot to take in one sitting. It's the sound of raw heartache set to scream-through-the-tears choruses … just try not to listen to it alone in a dark winter room as I did on repeat early last year.
• Want to review this album? Head to its Guardian page to do so. Or, if you have another Hidden Treasure in mind, then visit our album pages (use the Find Any Artist box on the right of the music homepage) and leave a review there. We want to read them so either tweet the link with #hiddentreasures or email your review to adam.boult@guardian.co.uk.• Want to review this album? Head to its Guardian page to do so. Or, if you have another Hidden Treasure in mind, then visit our album pages (use the Find Any Artist box on the right of the music homepage) and leave a review there. We want to read them so either tweet the link with #hiddentreasures or email your review to adam.boult@guardian.co.uk.
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