Sophia - There Are No Goodbyes

  by Jon Rogers

published: 26 / 5 / 2009

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Pop music is littered with divorce laments. In fact, not just pop music but music in general. Heartache, in all is manifestations, has been a common theme right from the start. Pop music though has expressed the myriad emotions breaking up has induced. There’s the loneliness of Billie Holiday’s 'Good Morning Heartache', the bleakness of the Cure’s 'Disintegration' and of course Leonard Cohen’s 'Famous Blue Raincoat' as well as Joy Division’s 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. Few though can come close to the intensity of Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks”, virtually a whole album detailing his split with his then wife Sara Lowndes. Sophia’s fifth studio album 'There Are No Goodbyes' joins these exalted examples of a relationship gone sour. Robin Proper-Sheppard pours it all out: the sorrow, self-blame, anger, regret, guilt, the emptiness. It’s all here in 10 songs. Even Proper-Sheppard thinks “it’s a sad record. Quite possibly the darkest record I’ve ever made.” He’s not wrong. And seeing as he’s hardly a happy soul at the best of times that might give you an indication of just how dark it is. Admittedly, when this record first arrived for several weeks Pennyblackmusic was largely undecided about its merits. Once again Sophia had made a record of understated beauty. Great pop dynamics underlined a great song-writing talent but as with recent albums it was underwhelming. Sophia had missed yet another opportunity to make a great record and merely settled for making a good record. But Pennyblackmusic was looking too closely, too intently and couldn’t see the wider panoramic view. Left gathering dust for a while it then got another play and it was certainly worth it. Mentioning individual songs might be fruitless as 'There Are No Goodbyes' works best in its entirety, best listened to in one go and Proper-Sheppard details it all. While 'There Are No Goodbyes' is very likely to be the band’s best yet it’s not quite up there with the very best of desolation and heartache. There’s nothing quite there to match the bitterness of Dylan’s 'If You See Her, Say Hello' or 'Boots of Spanish Leather'. Still, few records are. 'There Are No Goodbyes' is still a powerful record and well worth investigating.

Track Listing:-

1 There are no goodbyes
2 A last dance(To Sad Eyes)
3 Storm clouds
4 Dreaming
5 Obvious
6 Something
7 Signs
8 Heartache
9 Leaving
10 Portugal
11 Oh my love(Live from The Valentine's Day Session)

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