Young Australian artist Gordi aka Sophie Payten masters a cohesive sentimental unity on her debut album Reservoir.

What a way to start your week but with a new album from Gordi aka Sophie Payten. From the paddocks of rural Australia, she grew up in Canowindra, over 300km / 180 miles from Sydney. At the ripe age of 24 she has built quite a catalogue of music that has received an abundance of international recognition. And here comes a whole lot more.

The name Reservoir, it’s that thing that you can’t describe, that space that anxious people would probably live their life in. It’s actually an expression my friend and I use. If I’m really down one day, I’ll say, ‘Oh I’m a bit in the reservoir today’. You’re mulling everything over, and you’re sitting in all these thoughts and feelings. In order to be able to write a song I need to go to that place, but I couldn’t live a functional life if I spent all my time in there.

We enter this album with Long Way, and it is an entrance of epic proportions. Gordi‘s smooth tone, layered vocals and harmonies are what dreams are made of. Her reassured patience, “Just a take a breath I know you will get there we have such a long long way to go”, with the ticking clock in background, proves she has a few tricks up her sleeve. It’s not till the last 30 seconds that the song amounts in intensity, not that it needed to. But it gives the track some closure, that is for sure.

Next up All The Light We Cannot See, and she turns it up a notch. Bursting with bold drums, we can start to hear different influences she pulls from and what an eclectic bunch it is. Embracing electronic with instruments such as a violin moment, that again proves her artist thread is truly dexterous. Probably the perfect moment to mention she recorded this album between finishing her six-year long medicine degree, not many musicians can brag about that. But the humble Gordi maintains that demeanour through-out her music.

Lyrics to me are everything. Music is kind of what encases this story that you’re trying to tell. The music is obviously what makes people fall in love with a song first, but what eventually speaks to people, whether they know it or not, is the actual words that are being said.

On My Side keeps the pace but pushes it a little further. It inhabits some ethereal moments where vocals and instruments collide, which is sincerely profound. With notions of self doubt and ambiguity about the situation, she searches for some support and reassurance. “And I know, that I can’t, I won’t, I’ll tell you that I don’t, but I need you on my side”. Following that we dive into Bitter End. Stripping things back and keeping things simple during the versus with picking guitars, it allows the chorus to blossom into a celestial occasion.

“I often find that writing about platonic relationships,” she says, “can be a great deal more powerful than writing about romantic ones.” Heaven I Know is a prime example of this talent. Acknowledging a dwindling relationship in this case, is done a compelling manner. As the album progresses through each track, we see a different aspect of her aesthetic. A feature of vocal auto-tune, Bon Iver and Kanye West-esk, adds an extra element that I didn’t see coming, but appreciated none the less.

I’m Done is a song that everyone can relate to. That self assuring moment that the situation you are in needs to come to its much needed death (the most polite way of saying it really). And what a good feeling it is. Probably one of the more content moments of the record, it musically again shows another side. Acoustic guitar, trumpet and still installing an electronic element to polish it off reaffirms this confident awareness.

Writing music has always been and will remain my therapy, my process and my way of communicating. I don’t write songs by someone else’s prescription, I write to fill my own need.

Myriad carries on the vibe that ‘Heaven I Know’ started. With computerised vocals, it makes more of a presence this time around. It cements the album into being more cohesive and showcasing her artist aesthetic. Aeon takes a step away from that, but still features elements. Creating an atmospheric presence as vocals gather and amplify. It may seem sporadic at times but it manages to persist and bound together.

Can We Work It Out continues to explore the theme untangling a personal struggle and self doubt. Catchy with the help of some 80’s nostalgic keys and acoustic guitar it shows, yet again, another side. When I thought we had heard most facets there were a few more waiting to be called upon.

We round off with  Better Than Then, Closer To Now and Something Like This and it didn’t end the way I expected. First shows us a complete new entity of her artistry. A little bit more raw, exploding with robust guitars as it starts and continues resonate through out. The layered vocals add texture and feel even more expansive.

Something Like This finishes it all off the way it should. It brings together all the threads she has mastered and again constructing a cohesive sentimental unity.