Stream: Sophie Bom, ‘Housewife’

Kevin Bronson on November 20th, 2019

0

By the time she introduced her project Bom Bom (which later became Sophie and the Bom Boms) in 2013, Sophie Stern had already gained songwriting distinction for working with the likes of Britney Spears, Kesha, Conor Maynard and more.

Abetted by collaborator David Greenbaum, whom she’d met back in their days at Berklee College of Music, the Bom Boms gave the L.A. native a chance to shine. Their limber, clever songs, boasting old-meets-new-school production, burst with the whimsy that comes with an outsized persona. When they went on hiatus in 2016, you wondered what was next.

Last year, followers got a hint: Under her solo moniker Sophie Bom, she released “Broke,” which found the songwriter back at her original station, the piano, and questioning everything in stream-of-consciousness fashion.

The song appears on Bom’s debut solo album, “Housewife,” which came out last week. Much of it was written while she was pregnant with her first child, and impending motherhood infuses the album with deeply personal themes that belie its playful, effects-laden production.

The original working title for the album was “Hitbodedut,” which refers to the practice of self-secluded Jewish meditation. The video for the free-form song gives an eye into her process.

With its left-field electronics, “Housewife” can be a challenging listen. But following Sophie Bom’s mental circuitry as she sorts through a change in identity — this is the artist who made the free-spirited “Woman,” after all — makes it worth plugging in.

||| Stream: “Kimono Mix” and “Alone”