Sophie Payten
Sophie Payten, pka Gordi, is an award-winning Australian artist and composer who is known for her fervent, singular voice and her raw, atmospheric soundscapes fusing organic instrumentation with unique electronic production. Gordi’s music has been featured in more than 20 different US television series, including Maniac, The Vampire Diaries, Grey’s Anatomy and The Walking Dead.
Payten’s composition work, outside of the Gordi project, includes co-writing ‘On My Way’ from the Academy Award nominated feature film Mitchells Vs The Machines (Michael Rianda), and co-writing and recording ‘Wait’ with Troye Sivan for the feature film Three Months (Jared Frieder). In 2023, Payten was nominated for an ARIA (Australian Grammy’s) for Best Original Soundtrack for her composition of the score for RIDE: A Brutal Fairytale (Serge Ou).
Throughout her career as a touring artist and songwriter, Gordi has performed with international Grammy-nominated artists Bon Iver, The National, Sam Smith, and Julien Baker. Her studio albums Our Two Skins (2020) and Like Plasticine (2025) both received ARIA nominations and much critical acclaim.
Payten now lives between Los Angeles and Melbourne, both a long way from the sheep farm she grew up on in the tiny agricultural town of Canowindra, located 300km west of Sydney. The way she approaches her work is deeply connected to the pastoral landscapes she comes from, where she learnt to fill wide open spaces with pure imagination.