SOPHIE CORAN

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Ever wonder what it would sound like if someone blended jazz and R&B with the likes of 20th century film …

Sophie Coran fuses elements of jazz, soul, and pop into her own admirably ambitious sound on "Saltwater."

Like all the best singles, Sophia Coran's "Saltwater" – premiering here on PopMatters - is tough to categorize, but she has her own name for the style she infuses in her songs: Noir & B. It's an accurate assessment: combining classic soul with the gauze of dream pop, Coran's latest single (following "Permission" and "Duller Star" from earlier this year) sounds a bit like Amy Winehouse tackling '90s neo-psychedelia. It's an atmosphere that's easy to get lost in, with Coran's jazzy, reverb-treated torch song tantalizing the listener in the verses, eventually crashing into the tasty classic pop-R&B hooks of the chorus. Coran explains that she wrote the song last summer after a trip to the beach. "I was struck with how the beach reminded me so much of my childhood, where many happy memories of summers spent with family exist," she says. "I started thinking about how poignant it feels to grow up, and how sometimes I feel like I'm drowning, while other days, I'm swimming." While the lyrics certainly evoke those long-lost childhood years, the music also works as an appropriate accompaniment to those experiences. The woozy groove seems to bring to mind sunny shorelines and gently crashing waves. It may be too on-the-nose of a prediction to tap "Saltwater" as a perfect lazy summer single, but it fits. Pass the suntan lotion.

Philly’s Sophie Coran styles her unique slant on the singer-songwriter genre as “noir & B,” so named for her love of classic B&W mysteries, and the timeless music and elegant fashion that went along with them. Her new video for … Continued

Making music is a process of constant re-invention. Meticulously crafted studio recordings are re-shaped onstage, the onstage energy influences the direction of the next studio recordings, and the cycle continues back and forth over an artist’s lifespan. Sophie Coran has … Continued

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A living playlist of public radio's best new artists of 2019. http://npr.org/slingshot