Emerging from Boston’s DIY scene, Sophie’s Body are Sophie McMinn (vocals), Adam Hurt (guitar), Harry Van Der Meer (bass) and Dylan Hughes (drums). Their debut album, Zero, follows the EP “Mandatory Girl” and sees them widening their range without losing what they do best: pairing raw guitars with instantly catchy pop melodies. They draw heavily on ’90s alternative rock, but they don’t get stuck there.
Across eight tracks, they take in grunge, power pop, punk and indie rock, jumping from dreamy moments to bursts of distortion. The rhythm section never sits still, and the bass is rarely content with just keeping time, so even the heaviest passages feel alive. The guitars move from clean and crystalline to angular riffs and walls of noise, with echoes of The Breeders, Veruca Salt and Belly. Above it all is McMinn’s voice, sweet but capable of turning urgent and furious without losing the melody.
You can hear that range in the punk swagger of “Cowboy On A Cross”, the melancholy of “Long Term Loaner” and the electronic, almost industrial textures of “Star”. “Concrete/Plastic” surprises with a sprawling guitar solo towards the end. But the band really shine when playing with dynamics, especially on “In Defense Of”, which builds and builds into a noisy, thrilling guitar climax.
Beneath the bright choruses and dirty guitars lie much darker lyrics. McMinn sings about anxiety, loneliness, emotional dependence and how hard it is to know who you are when everyone expects something from you. “Eyes” and “Socialyte Zero” are full of the urge to disappear, while other songs explore an obsession with appearances and that uncomfortable contradiction of wanting independence only to feel lost once you have it. Even everyday things become existential: on “Long Term Loaner”, a borrowed effects pedal becomes a metaphor for loneliness through the wordplay between “loaner” and “loner”. And on “In Defense Of”, rejecting a life numbed by comfort turns into a desire to feel something, even if it hurts.
The album closes with “Indigo”, an atmospheric, shoegaze-tinged track that grows through hypnotic guitars and swirling distortion before returning to the fragility of its opening moments. Its melancholy neatly sums up a record that doesn’t try to resolve the questions it raises.
Zero is a varied debut, and far more cohesive than you might expect from such a mix. Sophie’s Body don’t reinvent alternative rock, but they make it their own, and their biggest strength is the way they bring heaviness and vulnerability together. The songs may be full of unanswered questions, but the band seem pretty clear about where they’re heading.
Listen to Sophie’s Body’s debut album Zero in full here.
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