Born in rural New South Wales, singer-songwriter Gordi has been leaping from strength to strength with the kind of speed and agility that forces you to pay attention.
The artist—real name Sophie Payten—released her hyped debut album, Reservoir, back in August. An accomplished maiden offering, full of layered honesty and enveloping melodies, it comes as no surprise that international names like Bon Iver, Local Natives and Highasakite have already touted her as one to not only watch, but to share a stage with.
Now, Gordi has taken to the triple j studios to deliver a heart-wrenching Like A Version: a touching rendition of Linkin Park’s In The End, a poignant tribute to late frontman Chester Bennington.
With all of this in mind, it’s not hard to realise that Gordi is the kind of artist with a lot going on beneath the surface. We wanted to get to know her better, so we asked her to share three albums that changed her life.
Billy Joel, The Stranger
I learnt to love music through this album. I learnt what good song writing is and that lyrics are just as important as the music holding them together. This album also reminds me so much of my childhood, listening to it on cassette tape in the car with my Mum. Scenes From An Italian Restaurant is incredible in how it transitions through what feels like 3 or 4 different songs, and I always wanted Only The Good Die Young to play at my funeral (obviously only if I died young).
Bon Iver, 22, A Million
Even writing about this record makes me emotional, I can’t really explain what it means or how beautiful I think it is. The intricate details in each track and the flow of the record as a whole is exceptional. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more affected by a song than 715 Creeks – the way you can hear the vulnerability and fragility through the vocoder is really special. The simple repetition of the lyrics “The math ahead, the math behind us” of Moon Water is incredibly moving too.
Gang of Youths, The Positions
This is a great record start to finish. I discovered it in 2015 when I was heading up to play at Bigsound in Brisbane and I wanted to listen to some of the other artists going up. The first song I heard was Restraint & Release and then I fell in love with Magnolia, like everyone did. I read a few interviews where Dave spoke about what inspired the songs and it made me love the album even more. I’ve always tried to be honest in my writing but more often than not I keep the inspiration for the songs private. Hearing Dave talk in such depth about the story behind his songs made me more willing to do the same when it came time to talk about my record. It allows people to connect to you in such an unbreakable way.