The Childhood Relationships That Influenced Her Debut Album

"They become like your family because they have this front-row seat to you growing up."

When Gordi - 24-year-old Sophie Payten, who records under her childhood family nickname - was cutting her teeth making music, she loved Sigur Ros, Asgeir, Soley, and Mum; dreaming of making folkie songs blown out with wide-screen orchestral and electronic elements. So, when the opportunity arose to record with Alex Somers in Iceland, it was a teen dream come true. "We recorded a string quartet out at the old Sigur Ros studios," Payten beams. "It was everything I ever imagined it might be."

Her initial arrival, though, wasn't so auspicious. "When I was flying into Iceland, I thought, 'This can't be it,'" Payten recalls, laughing. "I couldn't see any life, or any cities, it was just like a big iceberg. Then we landed, and I thought, 'Oh my God, this is actually it.' I caught a bus into the city, and it was like being in a snow-globe: everything was white, there were no trees, just white on the ground, white in the sky. The bus driver dropped me into [the wrong] town... so, then I had to walk for 20 minutes, carrying all my instruments, in the middle of a snowstorm."

Reykjavik is a long way from Canowindra (say it: 'Cuh-NOUN-dra'), the tiny NSW town from which Payten hails. She was raised on a farm called Alfalfa, built by her great great grandfather, lived in by her family for generations. She "was a massive tomboy" obsessed with soccer and cricket, but who also performed at Eisteddfod. "My mum would accompany me on piano. Probably my shining moment was when I sang a song from The Little Mermaid dressed as the Little Mermaid. I was probably slightly too old to be in a sequined crop-top, but, hey, I was in character!"

Payten left Canowindra to attend boarding school in Sydney, and it's those years that fed her debut Gordi LP, Reservoir. Recorded on three continents with five producers (including Somers, Ali Chant, Tim Anderson, and Payten herself), the songs are steeped in Payten's six years at boarding school.

"When you're in an environment like that, the friendships that you make are quite intense," Payten offers. "They become like your family because they have this front-row seat to you growing up. Then, all of a sudden, you're in your early 20s, [and] these people that've known you so intimately for so many years suddenly drift to the periphery of your life. I've been struck by how sad that is, and how you just watch it happen. There's so many songs about romantic relationships, but those relationships are not that complicated: one person doesn't want to be in it anymore, and then it's over. But, the slow dissipation of long-held friendships is [different]."

These feelings are amplified, of course, by how little time Payten spent in Sydney since the release of her Clever Disguise EP in 2016. "When you're a solo artist, you can feel so self-involved. Everything you're doing is to further your career, and you feel like you're talking about yourself all the time. Obsessively focusing on yourself is just exhausting."