Earlier this year, Sydney songwriter Gordi shared a new song called ‘Sandwiches’, following up 2017 album Reservoir. Now, she’s followed it up with an album announce, revealing that second album Our Two Skins will be released this June.
Our Two Skins sees the songwriter, also known as Sophie Payten, explore themes of isolation, emptiness, grappling with identity and ultimately, rediscovery. She recorded the album at a makeshift studio in an old cottage at her parents’ farm in Canowindra with minimal equipment, working with the assistance of Bon Iver production team Chris Messina and Zach Hanson. Without phone reception or wi-fi, it seems like the ideal location to make a record that explores feelings of internal remoteness.
“A big theme of the record is there’s nothing to hide behind. We didn’t have all the bells and whistles. You’re just standing there, with your hands in your pockets going: this is me. This is it. This is all I have,” says Payten.
To coincide with the announcement, Payten has shared an honestly breathtaking video for equally breathtaking second single ‘Aeroplane Bathroom’. Centred around sparse, sustained piano chords and the singer’s poignant, almost-whispered voice, it’s a tender meditation on isolation that feels pretty timely, all things considered.
“I wrote ‘Aeroplane Bathroom’ sitting in a window seat on a long haul flight. The people next to me were asleep and I was alone with my thoughts. I had that sensation of being trapped so I climbed over the other passengers and tried to escape to the bathroom,” says Payten.
“The song is about feeling isolated. It comes at a very strange time now given we’re all locking ourselves in our homes, ‘socially isolating’ from our normal functional lives. There is no more dehumanising experience than to be cut off from everything you know. It can plunge you into total despair.”
The bloody stunning Kasimir Burgess-directed video sees Payten situated among the wreckage in a “majestic aeroplane graveyard” in Bangkok, Thailand.
Watch the video for ‘Aeroplane Bathroom’ below. Our Two Skins is out Friday, 19th June via Liberation Records here in Oz.
