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"A special thank you to those who continue to drift with us, as we move forward along this unawareness of life."
These are the words used by the leader of Sophia, Robin Proper-Sheppard, in the acknowledgments within the album.
Anyone who has followed the story of the San Diego musician knows that he really did go adrift. And many times. A drift both geographical and human. Between the banks of the mind and those that separate Europe from the United States.
This wandering is strongly felt in the album in question, both in the words and the sounds.
The manifesto is certainly the single "The Drifter", the vagabond.
It begins with a question: "where have you been all your life?".
The response is not long in coming and it says: "where all the monsters hide, tired of feeding them I disappeared for a bit and found a quiet place halfway between the laughter and the smiles".
In this phrase is encapsulated the essence of his last years of life. A journey through time condensed in an album that is worth yet another vagabondage in search of positive stasis.
Even "Resisting", the other single, conveys this sensation of emotional instability and illustrates the inability to maintain a relationship and its acceptance.
The drums, piano, and growing guitar shocks create a rarefied and dreamy atmosphere where thoughts can remain suspended and repeat endlessly, asking what we are resisting.
Amidst this wandering stands out even more the cover image and its meaning. The "unknown harbors", the album's subtitle, are indispensable stops like the illuminated, perhaps salvific anchor, ready to draw the attention of the group's leader.
The musical journey also holds some surprises in addition to the typically slow core pieces we are accustomed to (like "Don't Ask" and "Baby, Hold On"), where Sophia play it safe.
Speaking of "California" and its apparent sunniness is predictable. However, its west-coast rhythms are deceptive and hide the bitter vision of a man at the moment he realizes that what he sees is no longer his homeland.
Something has changed in it and perhaps within him too.
The bitter reflection becomes even heavier in the other out-of-the-box excursion: "St.Tropez/The Hustle". A monolithic electro-rock march hurled against the corruption that surrounds every existence.
The neat five minutes of "It's Easy To Be Lonely" close the work superbly. A circular and hypnotic escalation that to understand it, you just need to grasp the words "we are the sum of our choices, the mistakes we make, and the chances we seize" and make them your own.
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