Alex Sopp — The Hem & The Haw

Alex Sopp

The Hem & The Haw

On Friday, April 19, 2024, Alex Sopp, the flutist, composer, vocalist, and visual artist releases her debut album The Hem & The Haw via New Amsterdam Records. Sopp has been praised by the New York Times as “exquisite” and “beautifully nuanced”, and is a founding member of yMusic, The Knights, NOW Ensemble, and the Berlin-based Between Worlds Ensemble.

The Hem & The Haw is a collection of 10 songs written during a “fit of stillness” resulting from “the fresh batch of Time” experienced by Sopp in 2020, which allowed her to “become aware of the edges of things—in my case, where my body ends and the chair begins, where a bird call starts and a melody has always existed, where a cloud has always been a storm and the storm is me.” In slowing down and connecting with the stillness, Sopp found “that if I look long enough, rooms that I didn’t previously have access to emerge, floating in front of me like hard working tugboats, pulling behind them all the postcards that I’ve written to myself.”

The Hem & The Haw was brought to life with the help of co-producer Thomas Bartlett (Yoko Ono, St. Vincent, Norah Jones) who “walked right into these landscapes and instantly understood not only how to elevate my vision but how to honor my quirks,” Sopp says. “He turned the lights on in dark corners, and he helped me to trust my instincts.” Woodwinds, synthesizers, strings, vocal layers, pianos, percussion, and creative production are brought together to create dynamic, intricately woven, and highly textured songs. Sopp encourages the listener to “walk into these layered dreamscapes for a moment and forget where you are; Or remember something about yourself you had forgotten.” Her goal, she says, is to “sweep you away even if just for a moment.”

Sopp’s songs find depth in their playfulness. The vocal work and lyrical expression are beautifully decorated by a wide palette of acoustic and electronic timbres. ‘Ah Said Rosita’ greets the listener with an evolving vocal wall of sound that grows in intensity with each repetition, the strong sense of grounding in ‘North Pole in Summer’ melts into an open sonic landscape, where instruments bloom from the central chord progression like a Glassian labyrinth playing out in double time. ´Like a Vine’ grows out of a central pulse while myriad synthesizers follow the lyrics down winding and unpredictable paths.

“This album came to me in a fit of stillness. I had been moving so much and for so long that I forgot that my favorite thing to do is to just sit. Sitting in stillness involves watching, waiting, listening, and observing. It involves becoming aware of the edges of things - in my case, where my body ends and the chair begins, where a bird call starts and a melody has always existed, where a cloud has always been a storm and the storm is me. When I wrote these songs, I was sitting still and looking at the sea. Yes, the actual sea, but also the sea of my childhood and the sea of my recurring dreams. In the process of writing, I’ve learned that if I look long enough, rooms that I didn’t previously have access to emerge, floating in front of me like hard working tugboats, pulling behind them all the postcards that I’ve written to myself. I’ve learned that if I listen long enough, a vine will always grow out of my head and become a phone cord, connecting me to all the times I’ve wanted to tell you I love you and have held it back.
I have been writing many secret songs for a long time now, always teasing at my inner world without fully letting it see the light of day. Over the years the desire to make my own music has grown alongside the desire to make my own artwork. Like most of the world, the events of 2020 left me with a fresh batch of Time and that is when I wrote this particular group of songs. That year I lived with my love in a house right on the Long Island Sound, and every day I would sit and watch the clouds over the water. Every day was a different world: the light and the storms and the boats and the birds. And every day was also the same. That year I felt closer to the child version of myself than I have felt in a very long time, and I’ve come to realize this feeling as happiness. I became a Cloudologist. I let myself dream and I let myself play, and this is what I have made. These songs are inspired by childhood memories, by fantastical conversations with both real and imaginary characters, by questionable ways in which I have spent my time but ultimately would not change, and by all varieties of love.
I brought all of these songs to my producer and friend, Thomas Bartlett. Although we have known each other for many years, this was our first time working together directly, as this is my first time sharing any of my personal work. After spending so much time wandering the hallways of my songs alone, it was conceptually hard for me to imagine how to invite someone else in. Where will they fit and what if they hate the wallpaper? Thomas walked right into these landscapes and instantly understood not only how to elevate my vision but how to honor my quirks. He turned the lights on in dark corners, and he helped me to trust my instincts. He is truly the most incredible collaborative spirit I have encountered, and his brilliant musicianship and magic touch are an essential part of this record.”
— Alex Sopp

Tracklist
1. The Hem & The Haw
2. North Pole in Summer
3. Like A Vine
4. Ah Said Rosita
5. Rodin’s Hands
6. Bougainvillea
7. Door
8. Roses
9. Mourning Dove
10. Loon
Credits
Voice, flute, whistles, synths, piano, drum programming: Alex Sopp
Piano, op-1, mellotron, prophet x, percussion, rhodes, floor tom, drum programming: Thomas Bartlett
Vocals: Sam Amidon
Violin: Austin Wulliman
Viola: Nadia Sirota
Flugelhorns: CJ Camerieri
Trombones: Dave Nelson (*additional trombone arrangement for “Door” by Dave Nelson and Thomas Bartlett)
Clarinets: Hideaki Aomori
Horns: Michael P. Atkinson
Bass: Shawn Conley
Electric bass: Shawn Conley
Drums: Michael Caterisano
Percussion: Jason Trueting
All songs written by Alex Sopp
Produced by Thomas Bartlett and Alex Sopp
Mixing by James Yost
Mastered by Fritz Myers at Platitude Music, NYC