The Sophs began with a demo. Lead singer Ethan Ramon sent a reel to a few labels, and Rough Trade wrote back the next day with a record deal. The band then wrote and recorded their music before anyone had seen them play live. For an earlier generation of new bands and artists, that path was not uncommon. In today’s world, it makes The Sophs outliers.
When the band first came together, the intention of its six members was to build a group that could follow its musical impulses wherever they led. On GOLDSTAR, The Sophs’ debut album, that idea takes shape around a narrator who cannot hold still long enough to resolve himself. That restlessness runs through the album’s sound, with the band pulling from musical backgrounds and influences that include classical, opera, classic rock, punk, emo, Bluegrass, and even blues. The result is music that keeps shifting in unexpected ways. This is no more the case than on the title track, which brings together Latin inflected classical guitar, punk, pop, and alternative rock in a way that feels strange at first but weirdly natural and ultimately spot on.
GOLDSTAR is definitely one of the more unexpected albums I have heard so far this year, by a band that knows how far it can stretch musically without pushing the songs into something absurd.
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