Socha: Musings on Musings the Album

I couldn’t have accomplished my hot girl summer without Socha’s melodies taking me to a place of emotional maturity and vulnerability. The deepest feelings that rest leaden on the floor of my heart are whisked to the top by the magically soothing tornado that is Musings. Socha’s voice gives me a soft place to rest my head, heavy with second-guessing and shame. 

Musings is intentional. Socha approaches every detail, from the listening party, to the animated video, to the merch, thoughtfully, skillfully and straight from the heart. It’s inspiring to see an artist who thinks with their heart but still plants their feet firmly in reality. Socha gracefully tightrope-walks soft feelings across a synth-punk cavern, showing us that all of our fears are not as painful or as scary as we sometimes assume.

I feel now why Socha decided to release the album in the chunks that she did. I’m not sure if she checked The Pattern or the moon phases to link her release schedule, but each song hit my subconscious with perfect timing, stirring up the past I needed to revisit. It’s as if Socha’s finger is on the pulse of the ever-fluid human emotions. She gets it. I am so thankful she has excavated this beautiful space for us to enter and hold ourselves. All parts of ourselves. Even the dark, ugly ones we usually don’t like to talk about. 

She accomplishes this balance of making light work of heavy feelings with her strong chord progressions and dreamy bridges. Neither is consistently the softer - Socha switches it up, giving us tunes that range as wide as the feelings she addresses. She builds tension, makes you sit in uncomfortable feelings, then empowers a perfect release. To dance along is to participate in this letting-go. The powerful album starts softly and sweetly, in a dream world that reminds me of wherever Florence Welch resides in the ethereal plane. The rest of the album reminds me of the emotionally mature No Doubt we always wanted. 

With the summer-long release, each drop found me as another version of myself. Like when you go to summer camp. You’re a different kid before you go, while you’re there, and when you return home. Socha’s camp nurtured my most dried-out feelings that I had choked out from an early age, challenging the dictated status quos thrust upon me. The progression of tracks gave me a safe space to explore these parts of myself. Growth is not linear and neither is time. 

Check out socha’s soothing project, Musings, out now on all platforms.