SOPHIE LLOYD Vinyl & CDs

Review: London based rising star and guitar virtuoso Sophie Lloyd has covered an immense amount of ground since graduating with a first-class honours in Popular Music Performance from BIMM Music Institute London. Combining her ludicrous ability with a stringent work ethic and adept understanding of social media marketing, her platform has increased majorly thanks to her epic "shredley" videos as well as covers, originals, tutorials and appearing alongside hip-hop/pop megastar Machine Gun Kelly during his recent UK/EU tour. Finally arriving at her long-gestating debut full-length, the cleverly titled Imposter Syndrome offers up a dream come to sonic life with the help of a rolodex worth of guest vocalists spanning from the incomparable Lzzy Hale of Halestrom to Matt Heafy of metal giants Trivium to Michael Starr of glam absurdists Steel Panther; all doing their utmost to match Lloyd's frenetic mastery, while like any shredder worth their salt knows, the earworm riffs and face-melting solos always shine brightest when in service to well-crafted songs, which the album pumps out with retro-fitted swagger and well-earned confidence.

Review: Former Paper Recordings artist Sophie Lloyd apparently started working on "Calling Out" whilst gripped by the January blues. Her intention was simply to make "happy music". To that end, she turned to her gospel roots. The results, shared here on 7" single for the first time, are little less than spectacular. With collaborator Dames Brown in tow, Lloyd's vocals - accompanied by a gospel choir, of course - simply soar above a jaunty, piano-heavy track rich in live instrumentation. It sits somewhere between traditional gospel, house and disco, with a flipside instrumental brilliantly showcasing the quality of the instrumentation throughout. The piano solos, in particular, are breathlessly good.

Review: After originally dropping on 7" in edited form back in early 2022, Sophie Lloyd's wonderful gospel-disco sing-along, featuring righteous lead vocals from Pauline Taylor, finally makes it onto a 12".. The full-length take on 'Angels By My Side' - all rubbery disco bass, sustained organ chords, punchy horns, cut-glass strings and Taylor's awe-inspiring vocals - comes accompanied by two fresh re-rubs from Detroit duo Floorplan (AKA minimal techno originator Robert Hood and his talented daughter Lyric Hood). They first serve up a bouncy, non-stop gospel-house dub full of cut-up vocal snippets, hands-aloft piano stabs and stomping drums, before throwing their arms skywards on a similarly loved-up, full vocal remix.

Review: Whether she likes it or not, Sophie Lloyd will always be known for the unfeasibly uplifting gospel disco-meets-gospel-house anthem 'Calling Out'. That was released five years ago and ever since, she's struggled to embrace it's shadow. With 'Angels By My Side', Lloyd seems to have embraced this, delivering another fine gospel-powered number that inhabits a similar sonic space while being different enough to avoid accusations of treading water. It's genuinely good, too, with Pauline Taylor delivering superb lead vocals over a hybrid gospel disco/stomping gospel sound hybrid full of Hammond organ licks, booming bass guitar, piano house riffs and stirring orchestration. In other words, it's another anthem in waiting.

Review: Following their collaboration in 2023 on Luke Solomon's Classic Music Company, Sophie Lloyd & Amy Douglas return with a remix package of the track 'Sweet Love', featuring the label boss himself. Luke's Always Love Revision of this modern disco anthem ups the ante, adding huge swathes of energy to the previously sensual record. The two-track package also features the 'Sweet Lovin' Mix', which capitalises on the raucous finale from the original 'Love Hangover Mix', making for a worthy mini-comp.