ATH Interview: Free Range

February 14, 2023 RayRay Leave a comment

As we closed out the year and wrapped coverage in December, one artist hit me with several memorable songs and left a lasting impression going into 2023. Chicago based Sofia Jensen, and her recording project Free Range, really struck a chord with me and will likely be a top new artist to push in the coming year. After three incredible singles to serve as an introduction to the project, Sofia is releasing a full, debut LP this week entitled Practice and I am here to push this gem of a record however I can. I was fortunate enough to send along a few questions to Free Range and I’m pumped to share this intimate look into Sofia’s process and musical tastes. Full interview with some song links and LP streaming/buying options after the jump.

All responses come from Sofia Jensen.

So first off, I think we should hear about the journey of making the new album Practice. When and how did some of these songs take shape? Where were they written and were they all written with you as the sole songwriter? Hoping to just get a feel of the process as someone might embark on a first listen of the record.

All of the songs on the record were written while I was still in high school, a good half of them written between my freshman and sophomore years. I started working with Jack (Henry), my bandmate and the engineer of Practice, on the record halfway through my sophomore year when I had about 8 songs that I was feeling good about. At the time, Jack was interning at Rax Trax studio (in Chicago), and so we would go in there at night to record when no one else was there. We split the time up between there and Jack’s studio in his mom’s basement. We did that for about a year and a half, and it was honestly really great. We weren’t spending any money for studio time, so there was no real rush in getting things done. There was a lot of time for us to get comfortable with the songs and with each other. Over time it made being in the studio together the place we felt most comfortable, which I feel like is the opposite experience of a lot of bands. Eventually Jack started interning at Palisade Studios and so we were doing a lot of stuff either there or at Jack’s new studio in his house. It was a very scattered recording process that got stretched out over the course of several years. Because we did it that way the tracklisting of the record got changed around a bunch, and so did our vision for what we wanted the music to sound like. We ended up re-recording a lot of stuff, eventually replacing the old recordings of my former bandmates playing with live-tracked performances of Jack and Bailey (FR bassist and co-producer on Practice). If I had to do it all again I don’t think I would want to do it that way, it became really exhausting and left us feeling like the record would never be finished. But ultimately recording that way allowed us to make a record that we really loved as opposed to a record that sounds like it got rushed or forced to completion. We put a lot of time and care into it, and I really think that it shows.

In terms of writing the songs, all of them I wrote alone except for “Growing Away,” which I had started on my own and then my friend Noah (Roth) helped me finish. I basically have one way of writing that I haven’t really strayed from much. I start with either a fragment of a melody that forms in a head randomly, or by singing nonsense over chords on my guitar until some kind of melody emerges. A lot of the time I’ll map out the melody and chords of a whole song before I start writing the lyrics. I don’t really use the notes app on my phone for much more than small lyric ideas I get when I’m out. I write pretty much everything in my notebook. My voice memos are really crazy, although recently I started actually titling the recordings and putting them in folders. But I record every single little idea I have, most of which don’t end up turning into songs. I’m just terrified of having an idea and then forgetting it. I still have all the voice memos from the songs I was writing when I was 14.

These songs seem to be so personal and give a look into your own life. What does it feel like when a songwriter pushes something so personal out into the world? Apprehension? Or excitement?

I think vulnerability is the glue that holds art together, and is the thing that can be the most striking to me when listening to a song, whether it’s a songwriter hinting at their vulnerability or just putting right out in the open. Songwriting for me, other than something that I just find really fun and rewarding, is an exercise in empathy and vulnerability, as well as an exercise in getting to know yourself better. It’s a tool for me in the way that journaling or meditating can be tools. I used to be really scared of vulnerability in my songs. Instead of expressing anything explicitly I would wrap my ideas in layers of metaphor. But I quickly found that I was far less interested in lyrics like that than I was in explicit lyrics. The idea of a songwriter laying their feelings and experiences out bare for everyone to see, doing so in a way that forces the listener to pay attention and have some kind of emotional reaction, was really appealing to me. In one of his books, Jeff Tweedy says something like how if you’re afraid of performing a song in front of someone alone because of how vulnerable you’ve been in it, it’s probably a good song. It is important though to keep in mind the way that writing about your own experiences affects other people. I tend to write a lot about the people in my life, but the last thing I want would be to write about someone in a way that makes them uncomfortable or called out. It’s a tricky balance. I never want to use or hurt the people around me for the purpose of art. You can respect and look out for people and also make great art based on the world around you.

I love the piece about this feeling like a morning cup of coffee in a dark forest in Scandinavia where you spent summers. Curious to hear about where you spent your summers or favorite spots? I am a frequent visitor to the area as well and miss it all the time. Thinking this could help listeners understand where your style and sounds come from.

All of my family is from Scandinavia, so I spent a lot of time there growing up. My dad was born in Aalborg, Denmark, and moved here after college but his whole family is still there. My mom was born in the US but her parents are from Finland. My mom’s parents moved to the US and lived here while my mom and sisters were growing up, but then moved back to Finland. While I was growing up they lived in Narpes (and my grandmother still lives there), which is about 45 minutes outside of Vaasa. Narpes is in the Swedish speaking part of Finland, so my mom’s family definitely associates more closely, culturally and linguistically, with Sweden than with Finland. For a while we were going to this part of Finland every summer, me and my mom with my mom’s sister and her family. We would rent a cabin by the water for a few weeks and just hang out together. Most of what we did was bike, around the cabin complexes and through the woods, to my grandmother’s house, down by the water. One year for my birthday my cousin made us a scavenger hunt that spread over the surrounding forest, she drew a map for it and everything. That’s one of my fondest memories for sure. My grandmother grew strawberries in her yard and would make homemade jam for us that we put on Swedish pancakes. When my grandfather was still alive he taught me how driving stick worked in his white Ford pick-up. It remains one of my favorite places, though I haven’t been back since I was a kid.

Now that the album is coming out (in a month), tell us a little bit about plans for 2023? Will we see a tour? More recordings? A world take-over? What is in store for you and the touring band?

Well currently my group chat with Jack and my manager is called “Free Range Year of World Domination.” I did not make that title though. But no, that’s not really in my plans as of now. So much of my energy since finishing the record has been focused on putting the record out, so I honestly haven’t thought too much about what comes after. We are planning to tour shortly after the release though, which I’m really looking forward to. I also know Jack and I are both really eager to get started on the next record. I demo new songs on my own all the time just in my room, and Jack and I like to get together at his studio and demo stuff full band, so we’ve definitely been in the process of mapping out LP2. I have more than enough songs for another record, it’s just a matter of clearing out time and figuring out what it’ll look like. I think for now we’re gonna stick to a trio for touring, although for our record release show we might do some fun stuff, bringing friends up to play with us etc. I think the year will unfold in a way that will be great and hopefully busy. We’ll have to see!

On a different note, I recently visited Chicago for a show at the Empty Bottle. As a native, what are some of your favorite spots for a show? Or how about favorite record store? Any area bands we should be listening to?

I love the Empty Bottle. The first Free Range show with our current lineup was at the Bottle last Spring. I love Sleeping Village a lot too, as well as Schubas. It’s a bit cliche to say that Reckless Records is my favorite record store, but I was just in there recently and it’s hard to deny how great their selection is. They have a really good world music section which is usually missing in a lot of record stores. I also love Shuga records, Dusty Groove, Record Breakers (which I also work at), and Squeezebox in Evanston (which has a great selection of books in addition to records). My favorite bands in the city are the bands my friends are in. A few to name: Friko, Lifeguard, Dwaal Troupe, Minor Moon, Finom (FKA Ohmme), Elizabeth Moen, Case Oats, VV Lightbody, Joshua Vurtue, Horsegirl, Jodi, and Henry True. There are endless amazing bands in this city right now.

Lastly, what were some of your favorite artists or songs from 2022?

I discovered MJ Lenderman in 2022 so that was what I listened to the most. Most of what I usually listen to is Elliott Smith and he managed to tear me away from that for a bit, just to give you an idea of how much his record resonated with me. Elizabeth Moen put out a great record in November, and over the summer my friends in Horsegirl put out their incredible debut record. Other favorites were the debut record from the band Sadurn, the new Big Thief, Christian Lee Hutson’s second record, and the new Alex G. But my record of the year was from Acre Memos, my friend Eric Adams’ project with Tommy Read (who we finished and mixed Practice with) and Hannah Read (Lomelda), based in Silsbee, Texas. Tommy showed me Eric’s music when we were down in Silsbee and I was blown away. It felt like the kind of music that I was always hoping to find but nothing ever quite got there. I am currently less interested in Free Range world domination and more waiting for Acre Memos world domination.

The new Free Range album Practice is available for pre-order on a super limited run of white swirl vinyl via Bandbox.