Sofish embraces wounds in debut LP ‘Femme Illustrée’
Mexican pop singer Sofish couldn’t escape from Ray Bradbury’s “The Illustrated Man,” a collection of 18 sci-fi short stories where a man’s tattoos come to life and share dystopian tales of the human condition. It was a book her childhood friend recommended before passing away suddenly during her teen years. Months later, her mom would recommend the 1951 sci-fi book and, eight years later, an ex-boyfriend. “But in my universe, perhaps the stories don’t end in tragedy,” said Sofish, whose real name is Sofía López Jiménez. Now in her self-published debut album, “Femme Illustrée,” the 25-year-old francophile puts a spin on Bradbury’s idea, embracing her own tattoos — or rather, love’s wounds — not as a warning of future disillusionment but rather as markers of a life well-lived. Throughout nine tracks, the Guadalajara-born singer-songwriter transports listeners to a celestial club inundated with love, lust and longing. Shifting between Spanish and French, Sofish delivers a heavy pump of French house music and a funky flow of moombahton, a subgenre that combines Dutch house music and reggaeton. …
