Time With Sophie

be·calm  (b-käm), tr.v. be·calmed, be·calm·ing, be·calms: 1. To render motionless for lack of wind. 2. To make calm or still; soothe….

When we covered the release of Sophie Hutching’s “Becalmed” earlier this year the response from Fluid readers was overwhelmingly positive, with some calling it the album of the year, and words like stunning and beautiful being applied liberally to it.

Critical response to the record has also not been far from this viewpoint either, with magazines such as Mojo lining up to praise it along with a host of mainstream newspapers and indie music websites. Australian site Mess+Noise, well renowned for critically savaging artists, spoke highly of it in an uncharacteristic show of support – validation for the debut instrumental album from the previously low profile Sydneysider.

When the opportunity came up for us to talk to Sophie at a recent show, we were only too happy to. I was lucky enough to have a word to Sophie a few minutes before she went on stage, and she was good enough to answer some questions for us as well.

She presents a different facet of herself in person than she does in her music, and is open about the dualities in her public personas. Not what you’d expect at all.

“Becalmed” presents in places as pensive, moody and evocative, eight songs of intricate solo piano, interspersed with cello, found sounds, violin and intricate percussion. It’s a moving and revealing album, with a strong personal undercurrent, sounding like the work of someone who may have at one point had some axes to grind. It is also mature and considered; not the product of a naïve prodigy, but rather the culmination of several years creative energy harnessed and captured with a definite hand. The production tone is direct – it’s not a bright, shiny record; instead a well recorded, earthy and organic one.

In some instances where I’ve had conversations with artists who have produced such work I’ve found them to be guarded and closed – apprehensive about speaking to web writers for fear of being critically kicked or worse, taken out of context. I was half expecting a stilted conversation with a road weary introvert, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

In the flesh Hutchings is outgoing, elegant and articulate – an engaging and charming conversationalist, easygoing and pleasant to all comers. She effortlessly juggled the demands of a tight schedule to accommodate music bloggers, sound engineers and well-wishers without blinking an eye. She was also able to co-ordinate fellow band members and dinner arrangements whilst having this conversation, while simultaneously liaising with the organizer of the night. All this whilst maintaining a bright demeanor, with the rigors of the road not apparent for a moment.

I asked to relocate so we could record the conversation in a (slightly) less noisy environment than a front bar on a Friday night. Sophie was happy to oblige, with apologies about her speed, as she had a limp.

A limp? Had she seen anyone about it?
Sure. She’d had an MRI’s recently. Moderate damage and pain to her knee.
Hard to keep the pedals depressed on the piano, but otherwise fine.
Oh? What happened?
Nothing. Just a minor accident.

Whilst surfing.

In Sri Lanka.

Oh.

Surfing. In Sri Lanka.

Like I said, not what you’d expect at all.

Is there an overarching theme or common thread to Becalmed?

Well, I guess some of the titles suggest a connection to the ocean, as does the album title “Becalmed”. I think that says a lot by itself. The state of being becalmed and what that conjures up. There was never really a theme planned though. I’d say the mood was set from the early days and the pieces naturally grew into their own to form a common thread, which can be related to on many different levels.

Was the instrumentation on the record other than the piano written in advance of the recording, or was it improvised?

Some of it was, and other times it came during the recording process.

Were the piano pieces set in stone before recording, or did they change in that process?

I guess mostly, but not strictly. Pieces like “Seventeen” were definitely set in stone. That one won’t let go! The others definitely had their core elements, which I allowed room for to move in the recording process.

Were there goals set in place for how the record should sound? Was there a particular tone you were aiming for?

I did think about this as a lot of contemporary piano can sound very glossy and produced. I wanted a very warm nostalgic sound so it could convey the mood of the pieces more so. Having said that Tony and Tim I had worked with before and they were familiar with my style of playing and I knew they would want to head down the same pathway sound wise.

The cover art is intriguing – what is it representative of?

I guess with my music I don’t see any need to express what it means. I like it to speak for itself though quite a few of the titles do revolve around the ocean, as does the album title. We wanted the artwork to tie in with that theme but to remain a little obscure at the same time, which leaves the listener to his own interpretation. One person described it as a vortex. I thought that was quite fitting.

What was it like recording in Tony Dupe’s studio?

It’s a very comfortable personal experience, which is why I think people like the idea of recording in a house. It’s not too challenging to get into a creative headspace, as the atmosphere is pretty present in the rustic organic surroundings, which is how I would describe Tony’s place in the Valley. Quiet and organic. You know you’re not going to walk out of a dimly lit studio to meet the usual city streets. You’ll walk out and meet a cow instead.

Were there particular influences that led you towards this aspect of solo piano? Were there any particular pieces, players or their approach that informed this record?

When I was writing in my teens the main form of music I was listening to were indie rock bands like my brothers – Bluebottle Kiss; Crow, Red Red Meat, shoe gaze, My Bloody Valentine & the like. There were also bands like A Silver Mount Zion & The Dirty Three making their way into my collection, and if it wasn’t that then it was my fathers’ stereo blaring John Coltrane, Stan Getz and their contemporaries I suppose. He did play a lot of Bill Evans who I’m a big fan of. Stylistically my music came out different to those but that’s what I was listening to at the time, and I still do. It wasn’t till later on that I discovered bands like The Rachels, The Necks, Johann Johannsson, Arvo Part and the like. The strong mood these artists evoke would have seeped somewhere into my bones. I think as long as music is emotionally convincing then somewhere in your subconscious they have an effect on what you as the artist come up with.

So after all this banter I’d say it’s real mixed bag.

What were the vocal layers used in “Portrait of Haller’?

It came from a mixture of sounds picked up in the actual recording process and Tim’s library of sounds. Intriguing stuff. You could get very carried away.

I’ve seen mention of a vocal-based album as a follow up – is that in production, or is it far away?

Yeah there’s half an albums worth lazing about sleepily with its other demos yet to be put down. I just need to get off my backside (or find time rather) to finish it though the instrumental side of me has been the focal point for now. It’s in the pipeline though.

What other projects do you have on the horizon?

Sophie’s afternoon tea cookbook.

Kidding.

I guess time will tell but I’m cooking up something….

At this point, we had to break off as she was needed onstage, but before she departed she did go into a little detail on the irons she has in the fire, which we’ll keep under our hats, as they sound fascinating and we wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.

With this fresh insight into the record, I re-listened to it recently, and the comparisons Fluid reviewer Josh Atkins made to Peter Broderick and Olafur Arnalds are very much on the money in terms of quality. Boomkat went further, lining her up with artists like Max Richter and Michael Nyman.

In saying that, “Becalmed” is also a work very much hers – character to burn, and a musical pedigree up there with any release of the year.

“Becalmed” is available now from Preservation records.

Thanks very much to ABC Radio National for sanctioning the use of the above footage, too. If you have a Youtube account, they’re a WORTHY SUBSCRIPTION. The segment Sophie appears on, The Music Show with Andrew Ford, also has several podcasts that bear further investigation.

“Having begun playing piano young growing up in a musical family, Sophie started writing properly in her teens; indeed, the opening piece Seventeen is named for her age at the time it was originally composed, though all on Becalmed have been developed and improvised on since their original form.

Sophie’s compositions move from disarmingly spare and elegant beginnings, to curl out with a tingling edge, propelling its austerity into urgent and epic realms. Violin, cello, drums, percussion and organ heighten the flight these pieces can take as well as dip and swell within the more dimly lit moods of gentler nuance, casting a particular spell across the range of feeling captured in Sophie’s playing.

Both un-fussed and exquisite though constantly evolving, the inspired measure of Becalmed is found in the space it inhabits between the meditative and evocative. Becalmed was produced in two settings, with engineer Tim Whitten (noted for his continuing work with The Necks in Sydney) and Tony Dupe (otherwise known as fellow Preservation artist Saddleback), in the tranquil surrounds of his former home studio in the Kangaroo Valley on the South Coast of New South Wales. Among other performers on the album is Sophie’s brother Jamie Hutchings, leader of longstanding Sydney outfit Bluebottle Kiss, and cellist Sophie Glasson, who has also recorded with Sarah Blasko and The Church. Seemingly from out of nowhere though essentially poured out from deep within, Becalmed is a shimmering, absorbing debut.” – PRESERVATION

- Interview by Alex Gibson for Fluid Radio

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www.preservation.com.au