Dear reader of this newsletter,
Incredible how different it feels now that so many things have restarted! Much of my time is suddenly going to calendar management and that’s good news, because that’s mostly due to concerts being booked. With The Lasses we’ve got a few coming up in Belgium and Germany besides some in the Netherlands, but we are not venturing further afield for now. Margot might travel to the US in the fall (yes, that’s how well she’s feeling!) but I’m staying here with my baby son and waiting to see how everything pans out.
I have to say that both the pandemic and getting to know myself better have led to a stronger aversion to flying when it’s not strictly necessary. But I’m not saying never… And I’m very grateful for the experiences that I have had abroad, which also very much influenced my songwriting. Especially the song that’s going to be released this Friday! It's a song you probably heard me play before. But the version for this single is very different. For the first time in my life, I'm releasing a single with full band instrumentation. I'm really curious (and a bit afraid) of what you will think, and I decided to share it with you, my dear newsletter readers, before its release date.... tatatatataatatada! Here is ‘Nightfall’ in the Upcycled Sounds-remix! (and don't worry, I will release an acoustic version at some point as well!)
If you want to help me getting this song heard by more people, it would really help if you would pre-save the track to your music library (if you happen to listen to music on Deezer, Apple Music, Spotify or Tidal). You can do so through this link. And if you know someone else who might like this track, would you please send them the pre-save link too? Every little bit helps, and if we’re lucky, this track will make it to an official playlist like Wide World did!
This week I should really be focused on getting the physical EP finished, but instead I’m working on a video for Nightfall. I’m cutting out bicycles, otters, dragonflies and waterfalls from paper and hope to animate them by making a stop-motion. The technique I’m using was partly inspired by seeing Anna & Elizabeth perform with their beautiful crankies.
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Here is a picture of the first things I cut out: women on bicycles. This should be the beginning and ending of the videoclip, because I wrote Nightfall while cycling along the river banks in Austin, Texas. I was staying with a friend who I was going to join on his tour through the US: I would sing harmonies during his songs, and hopefully open the show with a few songs of my own. We were rehearsing the set during our week in Austin, but since he was doing some shifts at a coffee bar, I had some free time that I used to cycle all around the city. It was a really strange week because my friend was very nervous for the shows, hoping that enough people would turn out to make it worth driving all around that enormous country for, not knowing where we’d sleep most of the time. You’re very vulnerable when you’re touring together, there is no place to hide with many hours spent together in confined spaces (the car, greenrooms, gas stations) and every night you give it your all on the stage, pouring your heart out in your music. With Nightfall I think I was trying to tell my friend that he could trust me (or perhaps, that I could trust him).
As for ‘Wide World’, I created the artwork for ‘Nightfall’ myself by cutting it out from a piece of linoleum. You can win the original print of the linocut if you put your name down by replying to this email! I’m really enjoying all that time I found for crafting my own artwork, a big gift from not being able to perform, although obviously I really missed that… I had the first post-lockdown show last week, playing at a proper big stage with lights and great sound and everything! At the bottom of this email is a photo of the night. As you can see we are positively beaming!
I am so happy that you decided to read up on my adventures as a musician this week. Thank you so much for letting me share it with you!
Lots of love, Sophie
PS If you feel like it (or if you have some spare time and don’t know what to do with it) I have a whole lot of links to things I’ve worked on recently!
~ Some recordings I made for Trad song Tuesday, a discovery I made on Twitter: every Tuesday, people share traditional songs around a certain topic. I recorded songs for the topics ‘Summer’ (this is a Dutch song!!) and ‘Weather’ so far.
~ Two recordings of songs I played with Janos in March: Lonesome Robin (that we both learned from the playing of Luka Bloom) and Lads of the Fair.
~ I have been enjoying watercoloring with short tutorials from this lady. I chose a video for doing strawberries since they’re in season… Hope you'll have fun!
~ I was interviewed on a radio show called "Song Surfing" where I talk about playing music at Mulligans and writing songs. This podcast includes music from a few of my music friends such as Victor Lacken, Paul McKenna and Job Cornelissen!
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