Sofie Royer - Young-Girl Forever (2024) [Hi-Res]

Sofie Royer’s third album for Stones Throw, Young-Girl Forever, paints a bold portrait of the contradictions of being a female artist today – with all of its anarchist freedoms and capitalist trappings. For the LP's title, Royer borrowed the term “Young-Girl” from Preliminary Materials for the Theory of a Young-Girl, originally published in French anarchist journal Tiqqun. The book portrays the Young-Girl as a symbol of consumerism under modernity, echoed in the album's themes of craving eternal youth or feeling like an emotionless doll.

Born in California to Austrian and Iranian parents and now based in Vienna, Royer draws inspiration from everything and everywhere – from Viennese classical traditions to her studies in psychology and philosophy. She’s a multidisciplinary artist who believes in “total art”, or using every medium for self expression: after picking up the violin at age three, she’s become a painter, model, DJ, and worked at Stones Throw and Boiler Room. In the period following her 2020 debut Cult Survivor and 2022 album Harlequin, Royer has opened for the likes of LCD Soundsystem, Lana Del Rey, and Air, and she brings the energy of her live shows to her new record.

Young-Girl Forever's shimmering electro-pop songs oscillate between optimism and doom. The album celebrates the Young-Girl while also rebuking the culture that created her, and so expresses desire for true liberation. As Royer puts it: “Instead of clinging tightly to what you perceive as correct – or even real – I think sometimes you just have to turn the lights off and surrender.”