Listen: Sofi Tukker - "Déjà Vu Affair"

photo by Shervin Lainez

I first encountered New York based electronic duo Sofi Tukker during CMJ last year after my nights essentially turned into finding wherever Gilligan Moss were playing for a guaranteed dance party. After catching them at Baby's All Right I made the executive decision to follow right after their set to their set happening at The Living Room's new Brooklyn location. Sofi Tukker happened to be playing when I finally made it over and they were an absolute pleasure.

What essentially separates Sofi Tukker from the pack of dance/electro pop acts is the blend of Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern's inspirations and influences end of creative this electric and eclectic style of music. Sophie's love of bossa nova melds with Tucker's more club-friendly interests and the result are songs that the listener might not necessarily understand like "Drinkee" or "Matadora" which are in Portugese but can still enjoy regardless due to the duo's production. The urge to dance was seemingly key in their live set to the point where the duo would often succumb to it entirely themselves. That sense of enjoyment for the music they're creating carries through.

"Déjà Vu Affair", the fourth single from their upcoming Soft Animals EP, is different than their duo's more immediate past singles. It's sultry and patient, building on Sophie Hawley-Weld's slow and steady guitar chords before reaching peak danceability about halfway through. It's an exercise in patience though making the listener work for the big dance beats when they were offered up so readily before - the trade off however is a greater sense of storytelling as well as offering up a much better display of Hawley-Weld's guitar skills. It's a pretty good indicator that Sofi Tukker have even more tricks up their sleeve than their world music inspired instrumentation, masterful production skills, and cool cast of collaborators and supporters. "Déjà Vu Affair" is  Sofi Tukker asserting their versatility and getting you well and truly warmed up. It's exactly the kind of single to upend your expectations of them and what their upcoming EP will sound like and that's essentially exactly what the duo want. Consider me well and truly pumped for the EP. Luckily there's not too much longer to wait now.




Sofi Tukker's debut Soft Animals EP is out July 8th via Heavyroc Records.