See you soon, NYC + new year thoughts
I'm 17 days late, but it's a new year: a helpful time, if artificially constructed, for reflection on our small, beautiful lives. Feel free to skip down for details about a concert in New York City on Wednesday, Jan. 25, or read on.
2022 was an important year for me creatively. I released "In Our Softening", a record that I'm extraordinarily proud of. It has done better than I ever imagined it would, including getting critical attention and making it onto several "best of" year-end lists, including I Care If You Listen's Editor's Picks, Night After Night (Steve Smith), and Boulanger Initiative's Favorite Albums of 2022. I spear-headed Troy Street Pianos, a project that brought art and music to the streets of Troy through painted pianos. I continued organizing and curating the The Lift Series at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. I began co-hosting concerts at Troy Listening Room, my strange and perfect home (a converted church hall) with my husband Sam.
But the elephant in my room is that I haven't truly found my way back to performing since the pandemic began. And I miss it terribly. Performing involves an incredible amount of momentum, and I just haven't been able to get that back yet.
Part of the story here is that my creative practice has been shifting and I've been feeling "in-between" for a while now, lacking clarity on what types of venues I should, or even can, be performing in anymore. But I think part of me has also been using this in-betweenness as an excuse to drag my feet, chasing after some elusive idea. The music is there and quite simply, I've always been a performer. Plus, I'm not sure I ever want to be not in-between. That's where great art happens. If we're not wandering through the fog, grasping at something unknown, what are we doing? Call a new year what you will, but something feels different in my mind and heart from say, the start of 2022. 2023 is off to an auspicious start.
Thank you - every single one of you on this list - for following my music, listening to and buying the new record, and coming to shows. Scroll down for details about a concert in New York City next week. If you're in the area, I would love to see you there!
In softness,
Sophia
(Picture 1: Performing at Song City in Troy, December 2022. Picture 2: Performing at Veg Out Fest, hosted by Albany Symphony, June 2022. Both pictures taken by man-about-Troy Zach Durocher.)
Concert: January 25
Wednesday, Jan. 25
8:00 PM (doors at 7:30 PM)
167 Spring St, Floor 3, New York City
$10 donation at the door
Music by Michael Vincent Waller (including a world premiere), Meara O'Reilly (world premiere), and Michael Pisaro. I'll also be playing a few selections from my new record "In Our Softening".
What I'm Reading and Listening To
Sam Torres' new album, "Still", which comes out on January 20th! (part of the album art pictured above)
Confronting Music’s Mental Health Crisis: an excellent deep-dive into a number of factors impacting musicians these days
Ticketmaster's Dark History: a detailed read on the company that's been making headlines recently for its monopoly and Taylor Swift debacle
Foster by Claire Keegan: an exceptionally beautiful book that you can read in one afternoon, and a masterclass on doing more with less. There are sentences in this very short book that contain whole worlds within them.
Currently reading: Mothers, Fathers, and Others by Siri Hustvedt