New Release – Starlight by Sophie Janna

New Release – Starlight by Sophie Janna

Dutch Sophie Janna is an Amsterdam based songwriter who learned her craft while living in Edinburgh (Scotland). With her duo The Lasses, she toured all around the world, playing mostly old songs from Ireland, Scotland and America. In 2021 she finally releases an EP ‘Wide World’ with original songs, inspired by and rooted in the folk tradition, but first her single ‘Starlight‘ will be released on September 17th.

“I wrote ‘Starlight’ at a festival in the Netherlands, a month after my ex broke up with me. I had the stupid plan to borrow his tent to stay at that festival, so that he would realize how cool I am and would take me back. The plan failed and I had to sleep in that stupid tent all by myself. The only way I could deal with my emotions was to pick up the guitar. A few festival-goers came to sit by me while I was playing and with a little help from my audience, this song appeared! Many thanks to Kay, Eva and Sanne for contributing some of these lyrics!”

“When I listen back to the song now, I can still feel that sadness of being cut away from the one you love, but also the wonder of sleeping under the stars and being surrounded by our beautiful universe. I tried to reflect that in the artwork, which I created by making a linocut. I’m not very good at linocutting yet so it’s pretty rough – this was the first one I ever made – but I think that fits with the raw feeling of the song!”

“My favorite memory of recording this song is when Jakes (Hannah Jacobs) came up with the piano solo. We recorded this in the house of friends in Paris and everyone had to be really quiet while she was playing her part. It was magical to be so still with a group of people and hear how my song inspired her to play these notes. It’s incredible that something that seemed to come from my personal experience started to grow into something that belonged to more than just me.”

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