Zooming in on ‘I’m camera .’ by SOFIA ISELLA

Recommended tracks: “Muse,” “Dog’s Dinner,” “Man Made”
Artists you may like: Paris Paloma, Bishop Briggs

I’m camera . is SOFIA ISELLA‘s latest release, and it is an extremely impactful 23 minutes of music. I’m blown away by the artistry and depth of this EP. Isella doesn’t just grapple with themes of feminine rage and toxic masculinity; she wages war on them. I’m camera . is for fans of horror, and people who enjoy music that makes you think. 

I’m camera . opens with “Muse,” which sets a dark, severe tone. The first thing you hear on this opening track is the buzzing of flies. While this song has no typical structure, Isella uses sonic buildup and retreat to invite the listener into the push-and-pull relationship between the artist and their muse. She writes about being completely at the mercy of this muse (“For her I’d attach a Ford Bronco 1970 at my hip and jump into the sea, and when I meet her at the bottom, I’d let her do anything to me”). At around the halfway point, Isella shows off her vocal prowess with an impressive whistle-toned ad-lib before the song really blooms, reaching its climax with an orchestral bridge. Finally, the artist in our story accepts her fate: “And Honey that’s all I was made for, all I was meant to do. I’m just something, something made for you.”

“Josephine” features fuzzy drum fills, distorted guitar riffs, and vocals mixed to sound like a whisper right into your ear. The lyrics read like an open letter to a hater, or maybe a metaphor for Isella’s former self who didn’t believe she deserved the success she has earned (“I’m proving you wrong / I’m drinking everything I ever wanted like scotch, and baby, baby, I’m just gonna make you watch / You watch me get everything you don’t think I deserve”). When you think the song is over, there is a haunting refrain with just vocals and piano. It almost sounds like it was recorded on a phone, which makes it feel intimate, like you’re eavesdropping. 

“Dog’s Dinner” is a sarcastic lament about sub-par sex with a loathsome partner. It candidly addresses how women often endure hollow intimacy, pretending to enjoy it for the sake of their partners (“You’re panting like a canine, I make noise like I’m on / It’d be romantic if it were, if that’s what it was / But you and I do not lie to ourselves, do we, my love?”). Lo-fi hip-hop drums, an ominous chord progression, and Isella’s graphic descriptions of a lackluster encounter paint a picture of bitter resentment and silent suffering. “Dog’s Dinner” also features the lyrical namesake of her current world tour: “Slowly the sh*t you eat will taste like hope, you’ll understand d*ck and loneliness when you’re filled with both.”

Moving into the second half of I’m camera ., “Crowd Caffeine” is a creepy commentary on societal addiction to technology. Isella points out the irony of humans being owned by machines of their own creation, crooning, “They’re a dog being whipped by a screen, and they thought that they had the reigns, but their creation has them trained and they’re being controlled by what they made.” Again, there is a clear division between the first and second halves of “Crowd Caffeine.” Where the first half used mostly percussive accents from the piano, we’re surprised with a chugging launch into a faster, more rhythmic instrumentation. It closes with the standout lyric, “What will you drink when the screens go black, when there’s no more colors to get your dopamine back?”

“Man Made” is a mockery of stereotypical manhood, sung to an American folk, cowboy-twangy tune. Isella sarcastically congratulates the protagonist of this track in the chorus, teasing, “Oh, man, you’re winning the game with the rules you wrote and the road you made.” The song seems to ask whether being a man’s man is worth it when the cost is becoming callous, savage, and barely human (“Watch death ’til it’s like watching the weather / the more you’re a man, the less you react to blood). “Man Made” features another jarring fracture mid-song, dropping into a chaotic, dream-like state where we hear Isella trying to wake up someone named Steve. Similar to the outro in “Josephine,” the song closes with a stripped down refrain: “The children are dead and the women are afraid / Man, oh man, oh aren’t you proud?” 

“Orchestrated, Wet, Verboten” closes out I’m camera . with heavy distortion and a mechanical, chugging beat. It definitely has the most structural uniformity of any of the songs on this EP. Its seductive lyrics seem to be written from the point of view of the muse we met in the first song. She insists she’s “not something to be casually desired,” but demands complete dedication. Isella’s stacked harmonies give a hypnotic effect not just on this song but throughout the EP. I think ending with a song that thematically mirrors the beginning is such a creative choice, and really invites the listener to participate in the overarching story Isella has built.  

I’m camera . is such an intriguing experience from start to finish. I’m deeply fascinated by SOFIA ISELLA and her poetic, horror-laced aesthetic. I can only describe it as a delicious thrill, and not meant for the faint of heart. I’m camera . is available to stream wherever you listen to music.

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