“She’s a runaway that’s on her way, yeah, yeah.“
While on the surface it may not seem so, there is certain uniqueness to the circumstance and structure at hand with Sophie Lloyd‘s debut record. At its front, it’s an instrumental artist piecing together a record full of vocal features. This doesn’t often happen, the last in recent memory being Polyphia‘s standout record Remember That You Will Die. Then comes with the angle of Lloyd‘s career to date, most famously as MGK‘s live guitarist, and being an ever rising social media personality. This gives a certain weight to this debut allowing them to pull in a whole host of features.
Imposter Syndrome opens smoothly with “Do Or Die” and “Pressure“, noodling guitars aplenty as expected from Lloyd with solos thrown in too. The features from Brandon Saller and Nathan James do a decent job, and it’s a pleasant return from Saller, given some of his spectacular performance during his time with Atreyu. A more melodic turn comes on the title track, featuring the well known Lzzy Hale. As an easy on the ear listen Imposter Syndrome is, there is a sense that it stays within a narrow lane, not really elevating itself beyond the expectations.
On “Runaway” the record does choose to enter somewhat of a noise dive, and while the music video does feature Upper St’s fine Slim Jim‘s bar, it’s the first moment that Imposter Syndrome indulges in the worst trappings of bygone rock’n’roll. Featuring Michael Starr of Steel Panthers (who have released joyous tracks including “Gloryhole“, “Fat Girl“, and more recently “On Your Instagram“) who offers up lyrics which seem to be a homage to Lloyd. “Millennial child of the metal age, born to be a shredder like Eddie, Randy and Ace“, and while in some eyes does perhaps seem deserved, does seem slightly grandiose for a debut full-length.
A recovery of sorts comes with “Fall Of Man“, with Matthew K. Heafy putting in a commendable vocal performance. A track that does remind of the somewhat obtuse, although solid set of tracks that Heafy delivered as the frontman of Roadrunner United two decades ago. “Lost” featuring Cole Rolland is the only entirely instrumental track of the record, as the two guitarists show off their touch and talent. It does serve as a reminder that within all this that there is a noteworthy guitarist within all the servings that Imposter Syndrome offers up.
The longevity does come into question on the later stages, and the overall lack of something intertwining this record together other than the presence of Lloyd does begin to take hold. A fairly lacklustre track in “Hanging On” featuring Lauren Babic which laments on clichés sees Imposter Syndrome begin to stumble into its closing stretch. At least on “Won’t You Come“, that swaggering rock’n’roll sound arrives once again, and perhaps should have arrived a few tracks sooner.
As Imposter Syndrome closes on “Judge and Jury“, which includes Tyler Connolly of Theory of a Deadman, it’s a bit difficult to know how to digest the record. This list of features list feels like Norm Macdonald (God rest his soul) is reading out “All The Stars” at the Youtube Big Live Comedy Show in 2013. It makes for a record that can feel difficult to navigate as you’re always glancing at the track list whilst things shift tonally from track to track.
This isn’t to say that Sophie Lloyd is a bad artist, and her ability does evidently show across the record. Instead, the record unfortunately indulges in some of the most dull aspects of the genre lyrically, and arrives at a lack of a wider purpose beyond its feature list. It fundamentality doesn’t make for a great listen outside of each individual track. While down the line there might be something better to come, Imposter Syndrome fails to escape its trappings of expectation and genre tropes.
4/10
Imposter Syndrome is out November 10th via Autumn Records, and can be pre-ordered here.