Sofia Kourtesis Promises to Leave Miami Covered in Hope and Introspection

If there is one constant if unfounded critique about electronic music it's that it lacks emotional depth. The whole schema of dance culture has revolved around "don't think, just dance" — making the idea of artists injecting their vulnerabilities into a track all the more difficult.

Still, if one artist can make electronic music blend euphoria and gut-punching melancholia, it's Peruvian-born, Berlin-based producer Sofia Kourtesis.

“Tú y yo/En soledad/Igual acá/Tratando de cambiar/Tratando de olvidar,” Kourtesis sings on “La Perla,” the first track on her 2021 EP, Fresia Magdalena. The song is an ode to the producer's late father and their trips to the beach when she was a child.

The snare skips like stones across the water as synths ebb and flow alongside Kourtesis' vocals. The track feels more akin to the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" than anything dance music has to offer. The buildups are dense balls of catharsis dropped on the dance floor and bursting into a million different colors.

"I think there is a special sound with being very, very transparent and vulnerable," Kourtesis tells New Times from her home in Berlin. "You can't really create a melancholic sound if you're not being honest about it. I couldn't do Fresia Magdalena again because I've been going through so many changes. We evolve as humans from daily modes of life, and your perspective changes. The state of mind keeps evolving."

While she's been to Miami to visit extended family, Kourtesis will make her Magic City debut at Floyd on July 16.

"I hope the crowd will expect a really nice show with unreleased music," she says. "I'm trying to get inspired with the sound of Miami and its influences with Latin and South America — trying to do a unique surprise for the guests coming. It's going to be very Miami-wise."
After moving to Berlin at 17, Kourtesis studied communications and film in Hamburg, followed by a stint in a hip-hop band. Feeling her flow wasn't suitable for hip-hop, she transitioned to electronic music.

She started with guest vocals on Gold Panda's album Half of Where You Live and then linked up with Swedish DJ/producer Axel Boman after sending him some music. The synergy between the two was instantaneous, and Kourtesis released her self-titled debut EP on Boman's label, Studio Barnhus, in 2019.

"I started very DIY," she explains. "It was like stories converted into a collage. Now I take more time to compose music. I just want to be active and have hope through the pain. I wouldn't be showing myself if I was only making music for the club. I like the idea of being more vulnerable and seeing how I am in the moment."

The collage metaphor may stem from Kourtesis' extensive sampling of her own experiences: vocal snippets from movies she admires, recordings of conversations with her father, street music she's encountered while touring, and shouts during protests in Lima in response to government instability.

"The way I do music is like having a diary from the synths I use — it’s autobiographical. I don’t want to build a Latin sound; I just want to live it," she says. "It would be weird if I used only German synths. When I tell a story, it’s like a history book — Greek, Spanish, German, and a fusion of all those worlds. I am so grateful for the people buying and writing about the album."

After Floyd, Kourtesis will perform at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago alongside her manager Thomas Stevens. "We're two people playing drums, bass, synths, and I'm singing," she adds. "It's very electronic and dance-y and dramatic."

Upcoming projects veer away from music to include a book of poetry inspired by 20th-century Peruvian poets like César Vallejo and contemporary anonymous activists.

With a decade in the music industry, Kourtesis feels like her journey has just begun.

"The time ran away. Seriously, I don't know how," she says. "I feel like we've been at the speed of light for the last ten years. I'm not sure if it's something we're not noticing as humans, but it ran away."

Sofia Kourtesis. With Phoenixx. 10 p.m. Saturday, July 16, at Floyd, 40 NE 11th St., Miami; 305-608-2824; floydmiami.com. Tickets cost $20.40 via dice.fm.