Sofia Isella’s ‘Something is a shell.’ is for the Sapiosexuals
The self-proclaimed slut for words Sofia Isella is back with her new EP Something is a shell. featuring more of her genre-bending songs that play like slam poetry. When it comes to songwriting, she doesn’t pull her lyrical punches and isn’t afraid to talk about objectification, sexual violence and desire, disordered eating, and the trappings of religion. Sofia Isella keeps her finger on the pulse of current cultural conversations—by ripping open the ribcage to clutch the still-beating heart. Her gritty, arresting production style wraps social commentary in crunchy synth and slick reverb to craft a guttural, visceral experience that doesn’t shy away from the beauty of the grotesque or the grotesqueness of beauty.
The fearless opening track “Numbers 31:17-18” digs into the dark side of religion: “There’s a lump under the rug in religion’s house / They will dance and defend anything to keep it from coming out.” The feminist hymn that reclaims the story of Eve (“Before her death, I heard her say something: ‘I’m biting into an apple and I’m afraid of nothing’”) is underlaid with a thumping piano rhythm that mimics church bells ringing. On the repeated refrain “I’m afraid of nothing,” Sofia Isella’s voice rises to a fevered exaltation that will give you chills. “Out in the Garden” continues the religious critique and has lyrical Easter eggs of the title of the EP and Sofia Isella’s upcoming European tour. It also has arguably the catchiest chorus on the whole EP, a slick classic rock sensibility that drives home the song’s sharp themes of repression and otherization.
The seemingly innocuous title of “Star V” is a twist on the word “starve” that is paired with commentary on disordered eating and toxic body image (“the winners lose and lose and lose and lose”) driven by predatory marketing to women (“You can take horror and change the color palette / Everything is pink and glorious and you can have it”). The sparse beat and knife-scrape effects add an extra sinister edge.
“The Chicken is Naked and Afraid” features more of Sofia Isella’s signature clever wordplay. An off-kilter beat overlays chicken clucking, because of course Sofia Isella can make anything sound exceptionally cool. The lyrics play with idioms, twisting and manipulating them when it’s fitting, such as “The chicken’s out of the bag / Curiosity’s instilled / I’m the cat and I got killed” and “They say I’m the shit, and I am / I am the shit, sir, and I hit the fan.” The idioms wink at gender dynamics and innuendo—chickens/cocks . . . cats/pussies . . . you can make the connection.
Sardonic humor is at the center of this track, such as the memorable line “There’s nothing to you, and that’s very sad / I looked for depth in a dick, that’s my bad.” The music video for this track features Sofia Isella nonchalantly eating while a group of stripped men huddle in fear in the corner. The indifferent attitude of this song has the energy of a cat catching a chicken and then being bored with its plaything. “The Chicken is Naked and Afraid” proverbially chokes the chicken, but not in a way men would find pleasurable.
“Above the Neck” scrutinizes the male-gaze objectification of women (You’re twelve looking twenty, or you’re twenty looking twelve / And you’re tight, and you’re baby, and you’re sexy about it.” ), the retaliatory subversion by women using it to their benefit (“They’ve learned that the closer you look like to a kid / The more money you get from a forty-two-year-old piece of shit”), followed by men expecting that on-screen fake naivety in real life (“There’s no button to push for third base”). If you’re also exasperated with incel culture and the male loneliness epidemic, this song is for you.
The last track of the EP “Evergreen Soldier” is an acoustic departure from Sofia Isella’s typical gritty sonic engineering. It’s a melancholic glimpse into a missed connection that centers the experience of maturing and becoming your own person while acknowledging the pain of the things sacrificed for that growth. The tenderness of this track centers the strength of Sofia Isella’s voice and her uncanny ability to shapeshift her performance to express the exact tone needed for each song.
Sofia Isella is currently on tour stateside with Florence + the Machine before she embarks on the HER DESIRE, THE NEMESIS tour abroad. Find upcoming show dates here.
