Sophia (band)

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Sophia
General information
Genre (s) Alternative rock
founding 1996
Website http://www.sophiamusic.net
Founding members
Vocals, instruments
 Robin Proper-Sheppard
Current occupation
singing
 Robin Proper-Sheppard
guitar
 Adam Franklin
Keyboard
 Will Foster
Drums
 Jeff Townsin
former members
Graham Miles
Dan Mulligan
James Elkington
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
People Are Like Seasons
  DE 66 01/26/2004 (2 weeks)
Technology won't save us
  DE 88 11/13/2006 (2 weeks)
There are no goodbyes
  DE 61 05/08/2009 (1 week)
  CH 69 05/10/2009 (1 week)

Sophia is the band project around singer , guitarist and producer Robin Proper-Sheppard.

history

After the bassist Jimmy Fernandez of his former band The God Machine died and the band split up, Proper-Sheppard founded the band “Sophia” after his own label “Flower Shop Recordings”. But it's more of a band project by Proper-Sheppard, which is tailored to his compositions. The first releases ( Fixed Water , 1996, and The Infinite Circle , 1998) were recorded with other artists on the Flower Shop label. The current line-up also sees itself more as a band collective that includes a larger group of musicians.

The first two albums are characterized by a very reduced instrumentation and the confrontation with death that is expressed in the lyrics. The sometimes melancholy, sorrowful songs are often reinforced in repetitive, simple refrains .

With the record People Are Like Seasons released in January 2004, the musical spectrum expanded more towards The God Machine - but with noticeably less melancholy , without heavier guitars and with some electronic details. The album also contained some mid-tempo rock songs again. One example is the first track Oh My Love , which was also the first single and was a minor chart success in some countries. The band had previously signed with the Berlin label City Slang - the label is still releasing the Sophia records in Germany to this day . This was followed by a tour in the first half of 2004. The band was also involved in the soundtrack for the multi-award-winning documentary World Market Leader - The Story of Tan Siekmann . Several plays by Sophia were used in the film Absolute Giants .

At the end of 2005 the band almost broke up, although 20 songs had already been written for a new record, but drummer Jeff Townsin was able to persuade Proper-Sheppard to continue. In autumn 2006 Sophia released the fourth studio album entitled Technology Won't Save Us . Proper-Sheppard played all the instruments himself except for the drums, but the acoustic guitar dominates as before.

Robin Proper-Sheppard was inspired for the instrumental opener and title track of the record by a failed rescue operation off the coast of Great Britain , in which a father and his son were trapped on a sandbar in fog and both perished despite a cell phone connection to the nearby rescue workers .

In spring 2007 Sophia went on a European tour, followed by individual appearances in the summer, including two festivals.

In 2009 the band released their fifth studio album, There Are No Goodbyes . In advance, Proper-Sheppard presented the new pieces on a small tour through six European cities. He was accompanied by a string quartet . The limited special edition of the CD contains a second CD with the live recording of the concert that the band gave on Valentine's Day in Vienna .

Robin Proper-Sheppard

Robin Proper-Sheppard is an American from San Diego , but lives in London. He sometimes retreats to more rural areas to compose. He has a daughter named Hope. He listens to music from Neil Young , but also from Massive Attack .

The May Queens

The band leads a kind of parallel existence as The May Queens , under which they write pieces and cover rock classics, but do not perform officially. According to the band's website, the name goes back to the track Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin . Some May Queens songs were also played at Sophia concerts.

Discography

Studio albums

  • Fixed Water (1996, Flower Shop Recordings)
  • The Infinite Circle (1998, Flower Shop Recordings)
  • People Are Like Seasons (2004, City Slang)
  • Technology Won't Save Us (2006, Flower Shop Recordings)
  • There Are No Goodbyes (2009, Flower Shop Recordings)
  • As We Make Our Way (Unknown Harbors) (2016, Flower Shop Recordings / Motor / Edel)

Compilations and live albums

  • De Nachten (2001, Flower Shop Recordings)
  • Collection: One (2004, Flower Shop Recordings)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sophia in the German album charts ( memento from January 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 8, 2012
  2. ↑ Sophia in the Swiss album charts , accessed on July 8, 2012
  3. ↑ Interview with Robin Proper-Sheppard at Soundmag.de ( Memento from November 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Homepage at Myspace.com. In the Soundmag interview, Proper-Sheppard describes the contribution of his colleagues as “definitely” as “part of the music”.
  5. ↑ According to the band homepage, highest chart entry ranked 8th in Belgium.
  6. ↑ http://sophiamusicnet.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_archive.html
  7. ↑ Laut.de
  8. ↑ http://www.visions.de/news/6957/Die-Kraft-der-Gezeiten
  9. ↑ Sebastian Leber: Neue Leidenlust , Tagesspiegel from February 9, 2009

Web links