Alex Sopp – The Hem And The Haw

On Wednesday, February 7, 2024, Alex Sopp, the flutist, composer, vocalist, and visual artist releases the title track ‘The Hem & The Haw’ from her upcoming debut album The Hem & The Haw (April 19, 2024) via New Amsterdam Records. Sopp has been praised by the New York Times as “exquisite” and “beautifully nuanced”, and is a founding member of yMusic, The Knights, NOW Ensemble, and the Berlin-based Between Worlds Ensemble.

The Hem & The Haw is a collection of 10 songs written during a “fit of stillness” resulting from “the fresh batch of Time” experienced by Sopp in 2020, which allowed her to “become aware of the edges of things—in my case, where my body ends and the chair begins, where a bird call starts and a melody has always existed, where a cloud has always been a storm and the storm is me.” In slowing down and connecting with the stillness, Sopp found “that if I look long enough, rooms that I didn’t previously have access to emerge, floating in front of me like hard working tugboats, pulling behind them all the postcards that I’ve written to myself.”

The Hem & The Haw was brought to life with the help of co-producer Thomas Bartlett (Yoko Ono, St. Vincent, Norah Jones) who “walked right into these landscapes and instantly understood not only how to elevate my vision but how to honor my quirks,” Sopp says. “He turned the lights on in dark corners, and he helped me to trust my instincts.” Woodwinds, synthesizers, strings, vocal layers, pianos, percussion, and creative production are brought together to create dynamic, intricately woven, and highly textured songs. Sopp encourages the listener to “walk into these layered dreamscapes for a moment and forget where you are; Or remember something about yourself you had forgotten.” Her goal, she says, is to “sweep you away even if just for a moment.”