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The Eighth Note: Sofia Machray

‘The Eighth Note’ is 8 quick Questions with Wellington Musicians.

A chance for us to catch up with people & see what they’re up to, or introduce you to a new musician/band and their music. Up next is Sofia Machray, an indie artist originally from Queenstown but now based in Wellington.

Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
I’m Sofia Machray, an alternative indie artist originally from Queenstown but I am now based in Wellington studying a Bachelor of Commercial Music at Massey University. I draw a lot of inspiration from artists such as Tash Sultana, Daughter, and Ben Howard. My vocal style has been described as ‘uniquely raw and authentic,’ which is well matched by my ‘dynamic guitar playing,’ leaving audiences feeling ‘captivated.’

“Sofia’s pared-back, acoustic guitar, and mellow folk/indie sounds have already made their mark regionally.” – Bethany Rodgers, Lakes Weekly Bulletin

“Sofia shares similarities with Indie legends such as ‘Daughter’ and ‘Hozier’, she is not an artist to miss.” – Something Something

Recently I’ve drifted away from my solo singer-songwriter projects and have been focusing on collaborating and performing with other locals artists combing aspects of moody folk and surf rock. I’ve always had a huge passion for music, from the early stages of my life I can remember dancing around the house to ‘Crocodile Rock’ by Elton John. I self-taught myself guitar by the time I was 7 years old and played in bands all throughout primary school, it wasn’t until high school where I kicked off on my own solo singer-songwriter career. From there I have been recognized in many competitions all over the South Island for my musicianship and have played at festivals such as Queenstown’s Winter Festival, The New Zealand Mountian and Film Festival, Wine and food festivals and have opened for New Zealand artists such as Anna Mac.

What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
Lately, I’ve been working on ways to incorporate electronic music into my compositions. I’ve been playing around a lot with synthesizers and seeing how I can incorporate random samples from field recordings, like birds and other random sounds into my music. I’ve been collaborating a lot with an Artist/Producer named LOTU on a few singles to which are expected to be released by the end of the year. We’ve been bouncing ideas back and forth all summer and I can see a lot of potential with where it’s going. Our genre would slide into the alternative indie electronica, which is a new path for myself, but I find the roots of my mellow indie style will always remain no matter how experimental it gets. Apart from this wee project I’ve done a lot of live takes with my band in the studio this year, that I might release later on in the year as well, so keep an eye out!

Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
The best place for people to follow my music career would be my Facebook page you can find it under my name Sofia Machray as well as my Spotify, which is where you’ll find all my released music. You can also find my music on Apple Music, iTunes, Sound Cloud, and YouTube.

What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
Amy Winehouse has been a massive influence growing up, it’s hard to pinpoint one album but I’ll go for Back to Black. Her vocals are so unique and brought such a quality to the Jazz/Blues scene like no other. I’ve always admired her songwriting and how upfront she was, she really had no filter throughout her career. She wasn’t afraid to tell the world about her experiences and the challenges that she was facing. I think that’s an extremely important quality as an artist.

Daughter ‘If You Leave’ has always been one of my favorite albums growing up, the emotion that’s captured throughout this record is unreal. Elena Tonra’s mesmerizing vocals glide throughout the songs, before leaping in to a post-rock thrum led by brutal, jarring percussion. I love the amount of reverb used throughout the record, I’ve always been a big fan of that. If you listen carefully to the lyrics of the song they are truly striking, and touch on so many important ideas.

Ben Howard ‘Every Kingdom’ has been the most influential album growing up in terms of my guitar style. He’s really helped me to push myself in terms of the various dynamic figure picking styles he uses as well as tunings. When I was younger I would sit down and spend hours trying to learn his songs of this album. He opened up a world of possibilities for me personally, I never thought that playing around with different tunings could lead you in so many different directions.

Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
Some Wellington singer-songwriters that I would love to collaborate with would be Connor Moore, Solomon Crook, and Seamouse. They all have such captivating qualities to their music, and style, I would love to work with them at some point.

What ís your favorite Wellington venue to play in?
So far I’ve really enjoyed playing at The Library Bar as it’s a really intimate spot, I’ve done a few solo projects in this space that have been really memorable. You can find some of the live sessions I recorded there on YouTube and listen to them on Spotify. However, with my band, I love playing at Caroline as you always get such a supportive and fun crowd there.

In your songwriting or composing (or the band’s songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
When composing my songs I generally start off by jamming on my guitar and playing around with different melodies and fingerpicking styles until it sparks an idea. I often use different tunings when I’m stuck to help this process and avoid writing songs that sound similar to previous compositions I’ve written. During this process, I tend to hum melodies over the chords then write down particular words that come to mind. I often write about books I’ve read, things I see on the news, movies, as well as my experiences and others. When writing my lyrics I’ll come up with phases and write words next to them that rhyme, it’s like piecing a puzzle together. I will refer to my songwriting book which is full of ideas, poems, thoughts, feelings, and random words. I carry this book everywhere I go and take inspiration/ideas to write about from all around the place. When I’ve finally pieced together the lyrics I’ll then go off and experiments with ways I can rehook the listener’s attention, for example, by changing up the picking pattern or slowing it down. When I’m confident with the piece I’ll take it to my band and we will work on it for a week or so from there, sometime it’ll change completely to fit the bands set, rather than my solo/duo set which is more stripped back and closer to how I originally write the song. I generally write all of my music in an isolated space with mood lighting, so nothing can interrupt me and so I can have space to express my creativity.

Where/when is your next gig?
It’ll be in Newtown at Moon Bar on Friday the 24th, I’ll be playing alongside many other talented artists. The show kicks off at 9:00 pm, so bring your dancing shoes and come on down for a boogie!


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