Sophie Jamieson has revealed the release of her debut album, Choosing, will drop on December 2nd, 2022 Bella Union. To celebrate the announcement Jamieson has shared a video for lead single “Sink.” Along with the news, the artist has shared live dates including support slots with Willy Mason alongside her upcoming Green Man and End Of The Road festival appearances.

Commenting on the track and video Jamieson says: “This song began as a love letter to alcohol, written from the cusp of falling into addiction. I had begun to trust this tool but I could feel it turning on me, like a bad friend. I knew I was close to losing control over it, and realized that I had to choose whether to fall in or not. This song exists at the brink of choice: whether to abandon yourself, or whether to make the colossal effort to rescue yourself. The video, like the song, approaches the edge – the tantalizing mystery and comfort of it, the openness of possibility and also the quiet knowledge of the dead end. The shoreline is that edge: beautiful, eerie, infinite, and empty.”

In the hazy aftermath of its completion, London-based singer-songwriter Sophie Jamieson noticed that water was a recurring theme throughout her long-awaited debut album Choosing. Though it was never a central part of her thinking while writing the eleven songs that make up the album, water appears in various forms, from raging storms with lashing rain, through the eeriness of vast expanses of still water, to overflowing bathtubs and the creeping ripples of a broken surface. Even in more ambiguous terms, it feels ever-present, the album detailing Sophie’s own long and punishing struggle against the tide, constantly reflecting on the binary choice of whether we allow ourselves to sink or choose to push ourselves above the surface.

Focusing on the bare bones of each song, and taking inspiration from the direct and melodic work of songwriters such as Elena Tonra, Sharon Van Etten, and Scott Hutchison, it’s an album that sings openly of longing and searching, of trying, failing, and trying again – and always and throughout, the strength of love in so many varying forms.

Produced and engineered by long-time collaborator Steph Marziano (Ex:Re, Lapsley, Hayley Williams) and mixed by Isabel Gracefield. “The few times I have listened to this album from start to finish, I have realized that there is a huge amount of love in it,” Sophie says. “I think there is a strong potential for real, healthy, healing love. It’s like a line of relief that runs along through all the songs. It’s never unleashed, it hasn’t yet learned how, but it’s present in an underlying tension and potential.”

Sophie Jamieson
Choosing
track listing
Bella Union

1. Addition
2. Crystal
3. Downpour
4. Sink
5. Fill
6. Empties
7. Runner
8. Violence
9. Boundary
10. Who Will I Be
11. Long Play

Sophie Jamieson 2022 tour dates:

8/17/2022: Eat Your Own Ears Recommends @ Shacklewell Arms, London
20/8: Green Man Festival
8/24/2022: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds w/ Ezra Furman
8/25/2022: Cyprus Avenue, Cork w/ Willy Mason
8/26/2022: Roisin Dubh, Galway w/ Willy Mason
8/27/2022: Dolans Warehouse, Limerick w/ Willy Mason
8/28/2022: Workmans Club, Dublin w/ Willy Mason
8/29/2022: Bangor Castle Walled Garden, Bangor w/ Willy Mason
8/31/2022: Brewery Arts, Kendal w/ Willy Mason
9/1/2022: The District, Liverpool w/ Willy Mason
9/2/2022: End Of The Road Festival
9/6/2022: Glee Club, Birmingham w/ Willy Mason
9/7/2022: The Horn, St Albans w/ Willy Mason
9/8/2022: St Pancras Old Church, London w/ Jana Horn
9/9/2022 The Goods Shed, Stroud w/ Willy Mason
9/10/2022: Brighton & Hove Folk Festival, Brighton
9/11/2022: Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff w/ Willy Mason
9/13/2022 The Exchange, Bristol w/ Willy Mason
9/14/2022: The Joiners, Southampton w/ Willy Mason
9/15/2022: Chalk, Brighton w/ Willy Mason

Pre order Choosing by Sophie Jamieson HERE