Released: 15/09/2023
Maija Sofia may be playing an in-store at Dreamhouse on Thursday 7 September, but believe me when I say that previewing True Love is no cynical exercise in corporate synergy; for this album by the preternaturally gifted Irish songwriter is incredible, and the fact that Sofia is playing at our fair shop means that A) We’re very lucky; and B) she has unimpeachable taste … . Sofia’s kindred spirits are undoubtedly Kate Bush and Joanna Newsom, and it says an awful lot that both her serpentine baroque-pop/folk songs and her exquisite voice are/is on a par with the incredible aforementioned artists; indeed, I experienced the same feeling of wonder listening to True Love for the first time as I did with The Milk-Eyed Mender, and later with Ys. And you know that beautiful gut-punch you get when listening to ‘Running Up That Hill’, that paradoxical feeling of blissful melancholy? It is to be found everywhere on this remarkable LP. See you 7 September, then – for in the not-too-distant future, when she’s playing sold-out shows at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, we can reminisce about the time we saw Maija Sofia play to 60 or so people in a small record shop on Francis Road.