Stream: Sofia Wolfson, ‘Nothing’s Real’

Kevin Bronson on February 1st, 2019

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Sofia Wolfson is wearing her growth spurt well. At just 19 years old, she’s already a veteran of L.A. singer-songwriter circles and has released a full-length (“Hunker Down,” 2016) and an EP (“Side Effects,” 2017). Now she’s balancing the college life with work on her next batch of music — a juggling act that can test the most high-functioning prodigy.

Sometimes it feels as if she’s “going through the motions / and spinning like a wheel,” as she sings on her new tune “Nothing’s Real.” The confessional is reminiscent of Phoebe Bridgers (and her Boygenius compatriots), Aimee Mann and Juliana Hatfield, and in fact it was made with two of Bridgers’ collaborators. The song was recorded last summer in the studio of Marshall Vore, Bridgers’ drummer and co-writer, and features the gritty textures of Bridgers’ guitarist Harrison Whitford.

“We focused a lot on getting a cool drum sound by experimenting with different set-ups, and the drum-machine-like tone came out of that,” Wolfson says. “What really tied it all together was Harrison’s gritty tone. We were listening to a lot of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tusk’ at the time and were inspired by some of those wacky sounds. Getting to work with Harry in these sessions was really exciting for me — I initially reached out to Marshall two years ago regarding working together because he had sent me an early version of Harry’s record ‘Afraid of Everything’ and I was an instant fan.”

The L.A. native is currently attending college in Boston, and taking a break from reading 18th century British poetry, she explains that “the song is about feeling unproductive and lonely — about growing pains and attempting to keep up with your surroundings.

“Nothing is indeed real, in my opinion. Someone recently taught me this: FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real (a bit cheesy, I know — but a thinker!). The song talks a lot about falsities, about perception versus truth.”

The song is the first from her new EP, “Adulting,” releasing on March 20.

||| Stream: “Nothing’s Real”