Sophia is an indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band consisting of Robin Proper-Sheppard, former member of The God Machine

The God Machine (band)

The God Machine was an alternative rock band, active in the first half of the 1990s. Its members were all from San Diego, California, United States, but they all lived and performed mainly in the United Kingdom and across Europe....

, and the Sophia collective, a group of musicians who collaborate with Sophia. "Oh My Love" from People are like Seasons became an indie hit in several countries.

History

After the release of the final The God Machine album in 1995, Proper-Sheppard set up the Flower Shop label, putting out records from the likes of Elevate, Ligament, and Swervedriver. He also began recording a year later as Sophia. Sophia sounded nothing like The God Machine. Instead of ear-busting and grating, they were low key and introspective. With the help from other Flower Shop artists - Graham Miles (Elevate), Dan Mulligan (Oil Seed Rape) and James Elkington (Elevate) - he recorded 1996's Fixed Water featuring the single "Are You Happy Now".

Two years later, 'The Infinite Circle' followed. In 2005 this album was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties

All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)

All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....

-curated Don't Look Back

Don't Look Back (concert series)

Don't Look Back is a yearly series of concerts in which London based promoters All Tomorrow's Parties ask artists and bands to play one of their seminal albums live in its entirety...

 series.

In 2001 Sophia released a live album 'De Nachten'. The album was recorded during two festival appearances in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and Holland and features four new songs and a cover of the John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

 song Jealous Guy

Jealous Guy

"Jealous Guy" is a song written and performed by John Lennon which first appeared on his 1971 album Imagine. It is one of the most commonly covered Lennon songs, with at least ninety-two recorded cover versions, the most notable being Roxy Music's version, which reached number one in several...

.

In January 2004 Sophia released their third studio album 'People Are Like Seasons'. The album was released by City Slang/EMI and marks the first Sophia release for a major label. Thanks to the massive airplay for its first single 'Oh my love' the band reached a whole new audience. This resulted in chart success for the album in several European countries (highest entry was no. 8 in Belgium). The band - of which the main members are now Robin Proper-Sheppard (vocals, guitar), Jeff Townsin (drums), Will Foster

Will Foster

Will Foster is the keyboardist for the English rock band The Tears.Previously, he played with UK art rock band Delicatessen before forming Lodger - alongside Delicatessen singer Neil Carlill, Supergrass drummer Danny Goffey, and Goffey's wife Pearl Lowe....

(keyboards) and ex-Swervedriver mainman Adam Franklin (guitar) - did a very successful tour of Europe in the first half of 2004.

In the Fall of 2004, a rarities cd was released called 'Collections:One'.

Most of 2005 and 2006 were spent writing and recording new songs for the fourth studio album 'Technology Won't Save Us', which was released in October 2006.

In the Spring of 2009, the new album 'There Are No Goodbyes' was released. The limited edition version featured a bonus disc of an acoustic gig (Robin solo with a string-quartet), recorded at Valentine's Day 2009 in Vienna.

Discography

Albums:

• Fixed Water (1996, The Flower Shop Recordings)
• The Infinite Circle (1998, The Flower Shop Recordings)
• De Nachten (2001, Flower Shop Recordings)
• People are like Seasons (2004, The Flower Shop Recordings/City Slang/Bang!)
• Collections:One (2004, Flower Shop Recordings)
• Technology Won’t Save Us (2006, The Flower Shop Recordings/City Slang/Bang!)
• There Are No Goodbyes (2009, The Flower Shop Recordings/City Slang/Bang!)

Singles:

• "So Slow" (4 track version) (Split 7" single with Swervedriver) (1996, Echostatic/Space Baby)
• "Are You Happy Now" (1997, The Flower Shop Recordings)
• "Desert Song No. 2" (Free 10" tour single) (2003, The Flower Shop Recordings)
• "Oh My Love" (2004, City Slang/Labels/Virgin/The Flower Shop Recordings)
• "Holidays Are Nice" (new version, promo only) (2004, City Slang/Labels/Virgin/The Flower Shop Recordings)
• "Pace" (promo only) (2006, City Slang/The Flower Shop Recordings)
• "Where Are You now" (promo only) (2007, City Slang/The Flower Shop Recordings)
• "There Are No Goodbyes" (2009, City Slang/The Flower Shop Recordings/Bang!)

External links

• The official unofficial Sophia site 'Sophiamusic.net'