A. G. Cook has shared a “eulogy” to SOPHIE, his friend and longtime collaborator, who passed away in January this year, aged 34. “I’m still processing Sophie’s life... her nature, her work, her beauty,” read the opening lines. “She was laser-focused and exceptionally intelligent, but also sensitive and perceptive.”
“It didn’t matter whether we were talking about people or relationships or materials or music — she approached every topic with the love, care and intensity of someone who has truly lived.”
In the tribute, which is published via A. G. Cook’s website, he also looks back on meeting the groundbreaking producer and DJ for the first time in 2012, after stumbling across a demo of “BIPP” on Soundcloud. “I remember the Soundcloud page well,” he says. “SOPHIE in all caps alongside a bio that just said ‘EASYJET GENERATION’ alongside a bulbous, bright pink profile picture (...) two 30 second tracks — ‘BIPP (DEMO)’ and ‘OOH (DEMO)’ — that I listened to on repeat.”
“I couldn’t believe that there was someone out there, let alone someone in London, with such a strong vision and almost no regard for the walls between pop and experimental art.”
He goes on to detail how their creative relationship blossomed, seeing them travel across the world to record together, and link up with other musicians in the PC Music orbit, including Charli XCX — “for me, Charli was the first artist whose voice and presence could actually sit over a full-blown SOPHIE instrumental intact,” he says. Charli XCX’s own tribute to SOPHIE, posted days after her death, also touches on their special connection.
Elsewhere, Cook focuses on SOPHIE’s music — honing in on the “moments of revelation” that were her two full-length releases: Product and OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES — and reflects on her “shifting plans” for the future, including a vision for a new, “extremely generous platform”.
He also reflects on the last time they met, “sometime before the pandemic, a typically LA late night car ride to go get frozen yoghurt at the The Bigg Chill”, and her death following a fall in Athens, Greece. “When I first heard about her fall, less than a day before she passed, all I could think of was how superhuman Sophie was to me.”
“I’m still processing Sophie’s death...” he goes on, drawing the sprawling tribute to a close. “This was the first paragraph that I started to write in what became a long eulogy — but I think I’m closer now.”
Read A. G. Cook’s full tribute to SOPHIE here.
