Photo Credit: Soso
Swedish native Soso, is compelled to execute the entirety of the creative process herself. The self-indulgent journey that is her record, That Time I Dug So Deep I Ended Up In China, is a literal metaphor as Soso is known to not be very keen on leaving her home environment. The album title has a suitable double meaning as China is the furthest, most foreign destination she could think of in contrast to the familiar and to stay true to her theme she has played around a lot with traditional Chinese instruments in her electronic productions. Soso also remembers her mother saying to her, while playing in the sandbox as a child; "Soso, if you keep digging like that, you'll end up in China!" Well, she's has dug herself a big hole and put a soundtrack to it. The debut album, set to be released in 2012, is an intensely personal journey into the heart of Soso. On the one hand lyrically raw and lo-fi but on the other paradoxically pop in it's unintentionally sophisticated melodies.
Soso portrays an almost awkwardly honest autobiography. The process of her recording has been totally limited to her bedroom in her apartment in the Södermalm district of Stockholm. In it, she has written and self-produced every track on the album. Every video and photograph has been shot by her boyfriend in her apartment or backyard. She directed and edited them all herself and claims that her press shots were taken in her bathroom. This project takes the concept of "DIY" to a new level.
The record features a number of preludes and semi-instrumentals, including titles “Every Man I Love Has Got A Girlfriend,” “Everything Near Becomes Distant” and "Sab Lackath". The latter, an anagram for Black Sabbath, is a track in which Soso recorded herself crying and edited it into a rhythmic beat. Within the parameters of her technique she truly invites us to her inner most private places.
“Happy People” is a soulful and bittersweet track evoking an earlier time, when life was simple and free from complication. “Joaquin Phoenix” is a one-take-love-song to the decadent actor that Soso recorded impulsively after watching his mockumentary “I'm Still Here” in 2010. Opening single, “Who’s Gonna Love Me” is a slow-building pop gem that battles intimate issues like insecurity and abandonment, with a "fuck-you-attitude". It perfectly showcases the singer’s commanding vocals and hard-hitting sound. Download the “Who’s Gonna Love Me” MP3 where it premiered with Interview Magazine today or HERE. Feel free to post and share.
There is also a mindblowing interpretation of Cody Chestnutt's “My Women, My Guitars” on the record, in which Soso all too effortlessly sings the lyrics "I've Got A Dick Full Of Blood And A Wide Open Heart To Lean On…" as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Soso’s debut takes listeners on an exhilarating and sometimes pleasurably awkward journey, daring to explore the skeletons we hide in the closet set to an incessantly catchy soundtrack. We dare you not to be moved.
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