The Sophs – GOLDSTAR (Rough Trade) (13th Floor Album Review)

LA-based newbies, The Sophs are sending us on a guitar-driven journey (of which, you might recognise some of the spots they visit on the way) on their debut album GOLDSTAR. It’s loud in all the right places and is loquacious in its lyrical delivery.

Interestingly enough, The Sophs were signed before even being a band. Singer and creative driving force, Ethan Ramon allegedly sent a demo of the songs to Rough Trade Records before the group was even properly formed. Yet, liking what they heard, the deal was signed, the band was formed, and I have something to write about this week.

There’s a variety of fruit on offer in the basket that is GOLDSTAR. Presuming, of course, that you like your fruit tasting like mid-to-late-noughties pop-punk and emo. Personally, I could spot the influences a mile away. For some, that might be an absolute treat. For me? I normally associate that music with the time I took a well-earned sabbatical from the genre. Regardless of my opinions, the emulation of said genre is especially evident in each chorus. 

For example, listen to the latest single, GOLDSTAR, and you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d lifted the tone of a Paramore song. Try BLITZED AGAIN and you’ll spot Ramon crooning like a post-2002 Rivers Cuomo. HOUSE gave me Panic! At the Disco vibes. SWEETIEPIE, well that’s got to be Plain White Tees, right? In fact, his voice seems to vary frequently across GOLDSTAR’s ten tracks. The first half of the album made me think they’d aimed for a jigsaw puzzle formula which had designs on appealing to an audience who owned skinny black jeans, a long fringe and a whole lot of issues (twenty years ago, of course!). 

But it’s not quite the case. There are two things about this album that stuck out to me.

Firstly, they have a dedicated acoustic guitar player! And, yes, they do more than just strum open chords to whatever the rest of the band is doing. Folk strummer, Seth Smade, was a bit of card on this one. He manages to use a variety of jazz chords and discordance in his playing which contrasts well with the rest of the album (although, I’m not entirely sure what he does in the choruses…). The folky influence of the compressed acoustic rustles gives The Sophs a new angle. 

Secondly, these guys have a lot to say over the microphone. And, while it is a bit deep at points, there are some fairly clever lyrics. The back end of the album appears to be where this is best highlighted, specifically in the ramblings you’ll hear on They Told Me Jump, I Said How High. Sounding like something The Black Keys might have thrown out ten years ago, with Ramon waffling like Max Bemis in the finale of Is A Real Boy (now THERE’S an emo reference!). But amongst the down the chorus downward strums (and various down-up strums of the verses) you’ll find some intelligent word play across GOLDSTAR.

The Sophs capture the energy of a genre not-forgotten, giving us a variety of clever libretto to ponder over as we’re hit in the face with heavy-but-catchy choruses. There’s plenty of enjoy if you close your eyes and try to either ignore or embrace whichever band are being channelled. Yet, you should find something to think and/or talk about with GOLDSTAR.

Daniel Edmonds

GOLDSTAR is out today on Rough Trade Records