Sophie Is Gone, and Its Okay to Cry
b'It was after 1 a.m. by the time Sophie arrived onstage to close out PC Music\\u2019s SXSW showcase in March 2015, but you\\u2019d have been playing yourself if you left before her set. PC Music was one of the hottest topics of discussion in Austin that year \\u2014 a mysterious, mischievous U.K. dance music collective that was either reinventing pop or destroying it, depending on whom you asked. Devoted ravers and curious passersby alike filed into the Empire Garage that Thursday night to see what SoundCloud jesters like A.G. Cook and Hannah Diamond sounded like in the flesh. Sophie wasn\\u2019t an official member of the group, just a good friend, but she got the headlining slot. Anything else would have been absurd. The memory of the other sets melted away into the background as she overpowered the late-night audience with a stunning barrage of hard beats and elastic vocals. It was fun, it was loud, it was a little scary. Sophie was a star. Now, six years later, she has died far too soon at age 34.'