Los Angeles six-piece The Sophs just released their phenomenal debut full-length, “Goldstar“, a thrilling, anachronistic piece of art that defies both time and genre. Its unhinged, folk-tinged rock ’n’ roll hedonism exists in both the past and the present, and is both self-aware and sincere. A wide-ranging existential crisis put to tape, it sees the band—frontman Ethan Ramon, keyboard player Sam Yuh, electric guitarist Austin Parker Jones, acoustic guitarist Seth Smades, drummer Devin Russ, and bassist Cole Bobbitt—immerse themselves wholeheartedly in the world their music creates in a way that’s very rare.
Incredibly, the band got signed to the prestigious and trailblazing record label Rough Trade after Ramon emailed the band’s demos to label head Geoff Travis. They’re surely not the first band to do so, but they may well be one of the first to do so successfully. But then, Travis surely heard the ineffably special quality that weaves its way through the bones of the record’s 10 songs.
Each one sounds like something you already recognize, yet which also feels completely new. The result is a cohesive album that sounds like a favorite record of your youth that you never listened to until now.
The Los Angeles six-piece The Sophs have ridden a wave of notoriety ever since signing to Rough Trade Records on the strength of their demos – which they cold-emailed to lableheads Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee before they ever even played a show. Following last year’s releases of stand-alone singles ‘I’m Your Fiend’, ‘Sweat’, and ‘Death in the Family’ and worldwide touring, the band are ready to unleash their debut album “Goldstar”.
Rough Trade heard the sort of creativity and variety — and “don’t expect me to act pretty” sentiment — that could get The Sophs a slot on nearly any stage. At any moment, The Sophs are entering pop-punk; blazing through funk; talk-singing to the audience. Their enthusiasm for every iteration is evident, and Ramon’s rich, full voice deftly nestles into endless categories, utterly chameleonic.
“We never try to be as versatile as we end up being,” Ramon said. “Goldstar” has a Delta Blues-style song; it has a ZZ Top-inspired tune. To some degree, The Sophs see song creation like pop art: they’re focused on the idea of reproducing something over and over again until it’s meaningless. “I want to steal and plagiarize and borrow,” Ramon explains.
Most of The Sophs’ songs don’t let the listener relax — mostly because you never know what’s coming next. The band has a passion for sudden and complete destruction, for playing with the tension between pulled-back silence and total explosion. That’s where you hear The Sophs members’ as they really are: explosively positive, happy, collaborative. Think of the “degenerative posturing” instead as a “jester’s privilege.” When they’re playing together in a room, you see nothing like the character they’re putting forward. Instead, you feel a bombastic, thrilling energy that underlies the sextet’s creative power.
The Fat Angel Sings 