Sophie Blue Creates Lush New Sounds in Elysium (EP Release)
Elysium cover photo by Jenno Snyder.
In between getting ready for the new EP release of Elysium on November 8, 2024 and preparing for the release party/music performance at Snug Harbor on November 9, local artist Sophie Blue sits down with Melissa West to talk about new work, musical influences, and more.
What made you first get into music? What drew you to songwriting? How did you develop into the artist you are today?
My parents were both very musical but not necessarily musicians. They’re what I would call great music appreciators. My dad is an audiophile and obsessively listened to music with a wonderful intentionality. The three of us (I’m an only child), would often sit in front of the speakers and listen to albums like we were watching a movie together or something like that, so though I wasn’t raised by musicians - music is in the fiber of my childhood and their love of music that had soul and passion and creativity I think lead to music sprouting in my brain from a young age. As for what drew me to songwriting, I come from a long line of oral historians - story tellers and living room poets but writing music, like how it is for most musicians, became a way to survive—to build understanding of pain, love, humanity, that feels impossible to do without song.
How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard your work before? (Who are some of your influences, what lineages are you channeling or are you forging a new path?)
Photo by Tim Glaesemann.
Oh, I am definitely in debt to the great lineages of women in music and queer creatives. We all would like to think we’re forging a new path but I feel immensely grateful to those that came before me. Nina Simone, Sinéad O’Connor, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, Tracy Chapman, Cocteau Twins, are just a handful of people that inspire me every day. At any given moment I’m probably thinking about Amy Winehouse. I’m very interested in Irish and Scottish musical traditions as well and that shows up pretty concretely in my work but I think that influences of course don’t always mean your work sounds or looks anything like them, but they’re present in your creative space. I love so many genres and all of them show up in my sound so I don’t think I quite know what the throughline would be to describe it, but heart-laid-bare writing and dramatic emotive chords are something I’ll probably never get away from.
You are soon to release a new EP featuring three new songs, “Lucky Girl,” “Elysium,” and “Creature Comfort.” Collectively, they feel simultaneously wistful and hopeful, pared down and yet lush. What is this new EP about?
I appreciate that description! The EP, and eventually the album to follow, are a collection of songs that each seek for threads of connection in their own ways. “Lucky Girl” is a self-reflective promise from old me to current and future me, “Elysium” is for community, it’s about collective grief and validating vulnerability through catharsis and “Creature Comfort” is a good, old-fashioned gay love song - really they’re all love songs just for different sides of love.
The piano is at the center of each of the new tracks. It almost becomes a kindred soul—mirroring your cadences and vocal swells, almost as one would construct a duet. What is it about the piano that inspires you?
I hadn’t thought about how the piano is kind of like its own voice in duet with mine but that makes sense because the piano is my co-writer. It’s my partner, my far-more-brilliant and mysterious collaborator. What is possible with the composition on piano is like an endless discovery of emotional landscapes, it teaches me new ways to feel. I love drama in music, I love crescendo, I love what is possible with time and style in playing, and piano offers everything under the sun for those elements. It’s a very physical instrument, being both percussive and melodic, it keeps me in my body.
Tell us how these songs came to life in the studio. Who are your collaborators? How did the process of recording these tracks take shape?
None of this studio music is possible without Jenno Snyder, who I am lucky enough to call my romantic and musical partner. They took these songs that I had dancing between just the piano and me and turned them into dreams made real. They were producer, sounding board, technician, engineer, performer, they do so much. We recorded “Elysium” in the storied studios of Snug Harbor. The birds at the beginning were ones that had a nest in the space between the 100-something year old shutters on the windows, the character of that space made for the perfect setting to explore surrendering myself to the world around me and incorporate it into the work. I think in abstracts, I have large and expansive ideas fueled by all manner of influences across mediums and Jenno along with Joe Pecora, the mixing genius on the EP, took those ideas and made them realities in ways that just floor me. It’s like watching wizards work magic. I was also lucky enough to have the insanely talented Elena Moon Park lend her violin/fiddle work to “Elysium.” I had seen her perform at Snug Harbor and cried during every song she played. I was like - this is someone who is going to get what I want to do and she offered to play together before I even said anything. Another shout out to the fabulous AJ Tissian who mastered these songs with incredible attention to detail. It was all magic.
What was your favorite part of this project? Writing the songs, recording, the editing process, or something else?
The songs were written at all different times—they weren’t written together so I couldn’t really refer to that experience as one cohesive thing—but I think in reference to this project I would say that getting to watch these particular songs grow limbs and wings in the studio with the wonderful collaborators I got to work with is really the most joy of building a body of work for release.
Flyer for the Newhouse After Dark: Sophie Blue EP Release Party on 11/9/24 at 8 PM. Flyer art by Kellen Renstrom.
You’re celebrating the release of the new EP on 11/9 at Snug Harbor with a release party for the Newhouse After Dark series. What are you most looking forward to about the live performance?
Playing with a full band! I’ve been playing as a one-woman-show since I was 17 so (more than) 10 years on, it feels so awesome to play with really some of the best of the best in New York in my opinion. Comfort Cat is going to rock it on violin playing not only on “Elysium” but on most of the set. Jenno on bass and guitar. Mae May on guitar and vocals and O.B. MacDougall on drums. It’s going to be SICK. I’m also just looking forward to sharing this work with community. Like I mentioned - this music is about threads of connection so I really want this event to be a space where we can celebrate, hold each other, and just have fun.
What do you hope audiences will take away from your work?
I hope people just feel like they can be themselves in the music - and that they hear that it’s ok to wear your heart on your sleeve. We are currently living through some absolute atrocities, there is trauma, pain and death and genocides and political hell and climate change, and whoever listens to these songs I just hope they’re encouraged to feel. To not turn off. To not go numb. To cry and dance and love and ask questions.
What creative projects are on the horizon? Are you working on an album?
Album, yes. I won’t give a timeline on that but the album soon enough!
Outside of music, what are some of your interests? What do you do for fun?
Music is life! Just kidding, but not really lol…I really have so many unbelievably talented friends that make all different kinds of art, I love to see them do what they do. I like to look at old houses. I like to take photos and make little movies. I like to cook, and sing funny songs to our cat. I like to touch grass and moss. I like to scream into the void, you know—normal late 20s stuff!
What’s an obscure fact or anecdote (about yourself, art, or the world more broadly) that you want readers to know/learn about or check out?
This is not an obscure fact but it is about art and the world more broadly—F*ck US imperialism, F*ck the military and prison industrial complex, and F*ck colonialism around the world. Free Palestine, Free Lebanon, Free Sudan, Free Congo, Free Puerto Rico, free the whole world.
To learn more about Sophie Blue and listen to the EP (released on 11/8/24), visit @justsophieblue on Instagram. Sophie’s music is on all streaming platforms. Her website is www.justsophieblue.com.
Melissa West is a choreographer and curator based in Staten Island, NY. She is the Director & Senior Curator of the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor, and co-founder of the Shaolin Art Party. West is dedicated to creating local opportunities and innovative cultural experiences for artists and audiences alike. mwestdances.nyc