Album Review: Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Perimenopop

Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Perimenopop opens with Relentless Love, a beat that leans into disco-pop with its sparkling synths and playful strings setting the album’s tone as confident and joyous. Vertigo follows, ratcheting up the energy through pulsing beats and a tempo that makes you want to bounce. There’s this sense of urgency you feel from the violin and her vocals, it all creates a sensation of feeling both the high and the dizzying spin of life while you listen. Taste comes next. A flirtatious groove with cheeky lyrics and a dancefloor aura that is irresistible. It’s fun, sensual and full of colour.

Sophie shifts gears and takes us down a different and more nuanced path for tracks four through six. It’s the one section in the album that allows you to breathe a little without completely losing momentum. Stay On Me is still danceable but in a more gentle and reflective form. It’s the first moment where the album hints at relationships, about longing or holding on, and Sophie’s voice softens just enough to let vulnerability peek through without losing her signature poise. Dolce Vita is afternoon sunshine incarnate with a hook that feels easy and natural, it’s escapism through melody. Time continues to follow Stay On Me and Dolce Vita’s lead as another reflective piece with darker undertones on everything that got us here, to where we are today – it’s all in the name of the track itself.

The latter half of the album is more varied with Glamorous, Freedom Of The Night, Layers, Diamond In The Dark, Heart Sing, and finally, Don’t Know What You’ve Got Until It’s Gone. They reinforce themes of self-recognition, joy, memory and perhaps a little wistfulness. Speaking of memory, for some reason Sophie’s track Glamorous feels like a modern take of Fergie’s 2006 Glamorous and I’m unsure whether this was intentional or not. Freedom Of The Night propels us back to the top of Perimenopop with that confident and joyful, disco-pop groove – something that is very prevalent in Sophie’s work, especially in regard to her early music career. There’s also some sort of nostalgia that hits you when listening to Diamond In The Dark. It’s a track that nods to the golden age of disco without a doubt .

Heart Sing mixes intimacy with a pop kind of energy and Don’t Know What You’ve Got Until It’s Gone rounds things off with themes of introspection, love, loss, gratitude and the kind of wistfulness that comes from having looked both forward and backward. Perimenopop is overall a bright, feel-good record, rich with hooks, danceability and that signature Sophie Ellis-Bextor elegance. For anyone who loves disco-pop, especially pop with a bit of personality, this album delivers. Some tracks may feel more familiar than surprising, but as a statement it’s bold, satisfying and full of heart.

Zoe van Eekelen