Staff Reviews

Sophia Knapp - Into the Waves

Review by Noel Gardner

A fine album which might be too much of a period piece to truly be the ‘sound of 2012’ or somesuch, but has a greater chance of making Sophia Knapp into a minor unit-shifter than Lights or Cliffie Swan ever did.»

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sophia knapp lives her life surrounded by music and lyrics. she carries a journal to get it all down when it suddenly comes upon her. into the waves is her debut as a solo artist, her first record outside the lights / cliffie swan enclave that she has performed in over the past five years. her music during that time has taken a variety of forms, all of which have a strong, almost magical undercurrent of spirituality, with elements of astrology, sacred geometry, witchcraft, colorology - anything that resonated inside. all these directions indicated a myriad of paths to follow 'into the waves'. however, after some time with the songs, sophia realized that an effective blend of acoustic and synthetic sounds provided a framework for what she was looking for: a contemporary vocal pop record a la stevie nicks & francoise hardy, cool toned and shady with a relaxed vibe and an eye towards r 'n' b. for this production, sophia wanted every song to exorcise a strong personal feeling in pursuing her individual muse. she was additionally inspired by brooklyn - not just classic brooklyn which is gone forever, but also the brooklyn of today, which has served as a hive-bed for so many of her endeavors. also incorporating stylings from west coast psychedelic pop of the '60's and '70's, 'into the waves' is sophia's contemporary take on the vocal pop records that influenced her. for several songs, sophia brought in 'bassy' bob brockman, whose experiences playing, engineering, mixing and producing in the world of r 'n' b include tlc, fugees, brian mcknight, mary j blige, cee-lo and a host of others. his contribution, along with the playing of jay israelson (motion picture composer), robert 'chicken' burke and eric gorman (background in pop vocal production, engineer / mixer for cliffie swan) and the production and arrangement collaboration with jay and eric, helped realize the poised sound of 'into the waves'.
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