I think that everyone has a particular musical note or maybe it’s a combination of notes or a certain chord, which can bring them close to tears. I don’t know what mine is, but Sophia evidently do and keep on hammering away at it.
I think that everyone has a particular musical note or maybe it’s a combination of notes or a certain chord, which can bring them close to tears. I don’t know what mine is, but Sophia evidently do and keep on hammering away at it.
The inside of the Schouwburg is impressive, especially the Royal Room where Sophia are going to play – with its incredibly high ornate ceilings, dazzling lighting, plush seats (with leg-room if you can believe that) and elaborately decorated Royal Boxes to either side of the stage; all of which evokes images of powdered wigs and Opera glasses. The building is designed around spiralling staircases and intertwining rooms, which meet up again in surprising places (I never have had much of a sense of direction). And in a ploy perhaps to broaden people’s horizons, there is a glut of signposts pointing in a myriad of directions, all of which bizarrely seem to run out just at the vital moment leading you to stray from your intended path and to who knows what experiences. But, let this be a warning: never, NEVER allow yourself to be lured into a darkened cellar to investigate a strange noise and on no circumstances touch the spinning wheel!
The surroundings catch me off guard a bit. Don’t get me wrong it’s beautiful – but seating? What a shock. I don’t think I have sat down for a concert (except, that is, for "Madam Butterfly" a few years ago) since The Damned in the Hammersmith Odeon in 1986. It’s a slightly strange atmosphere, the crowd seem pretty sedate, are all over 30 and to my horror many of them are drinking tea. This partly explains the odd reaction when we ask for 20 tokens (something which also makes sense when we realise that we are not allowed to take our beers into many of the salons). Okay time for me to make a quick reappraisal of what I consider constitutes a concert – click clunk whirrrrrr, smell of overheated brain matter, eerrrr – right, got it. Now slump back into comfy red velvet chair, open mind and cue Sophia!
The band roll out of bed wearing last nights crumpled clothes and straight onto the stage. Californian singer/songwriter Robin Proper-Sheppard (ex God Machine front man) takes immediate umbrage at the fact there are some empty seats. So they evidently take their music, if not their image, seriously. Come on boys, we’re here aren’t we? Get on with it!
There are 9 of them, 4 of whom are playing classical stringed instruments – 3 violins and a cello – and when they begin, I close my eyes and remember how much I love the latest album People Are Like Seasons. How many have they done you may ask? But I’m not going to tell you, because frankly, I don’t know. I was lured here on the basis of 1 album alone; so don’t ask me any difficult questions. Back to the gig, this is going to be good and maybe, just maybe, the chairs are a good idea after all. The strings sound fabulous, they lend a real depth of sound and seem to weave the music together in an entirely different way from your usual drum based music. Melodies lilt and float into each other, instead of rifts punctuated by repeated rhythms and Proper-Sheppard’s warm slightly gruff voice lulls you and leads you off to another place. The third track they play is Swept Back which, like much of their music, is melancholy and emotionally charged but there’s something about this song that plucks at the heartstrings more than any other.
I think that everyone has a particular musical note, or maybe it’s a combination of notes or a certain chord, which can bring them close to tears. I don’t know what mine is, but Sophia evidently do and keep on hammering away at it. I sneak a quick look from under my slightly damp eyelids just to check that I am unobserved – but happily much of the rest of the audience seem to be gripped in the same reverie.
Round about the sixth track, the strings leave the stage and Sophia play a couple of their more poppy numbers including Holidays Are Good. By more poppy, I mean that they speed up to the racy level of mid 1980’s shoe-gazing icons such as The House Of Love, however, it is a welcome break and a chance to sit up, write some notes and even tap my foot along for a bit. Lyrically of course they never even skirt the periphery of upbeat, but hey, who’s complaining? I’m not sure to whom you could compare them really, so to give you an idea what you’d be getting (if you ever see Sophia live); maybe David Gray meets the Cocteau Twins or Grant Hart meets Nick Drake. Or maybe all four bands get together over a couple of bottles of Gin to bemoan the woes of the world.
The strings return for the last couple of songs swilling from cans of Heineken (that’s rock an’ roll). The concert seems to be over very quickly. They only played 9 songs, the majority of which are from the afore-mentioned album and it was a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride. What is it with these guys? All the songs are heavily steeped with longing, heartache, regret and tragedy. One hopes that this springs from a lively imagination and a penchant for the dark side and not from life experience. Anyway, call me weird, but intensely sad or depressing music has always had the ability to fill me with joy or elation and this is how I feel. They were fantastic and I’m left wanting more.