A few first thougts on the "Ocean And Me" album!

[Markus]

Listening to Sophie´s new album since yesterday now, I have to say, it was more difficult to me to come to a final conclusion than it was to me with her earlier albums.
My first impression was: the album is quiet different from what Sophie has done in the past. I have to agree with zuperparanoid on this. But is this good or bad? Most of the songs are quiet and melancholic as always, but on this album there is no typical "commercial" or "mainstream" song. Don´t get me wrong. Sophie, of course, never composed and performed "mainstream" music and that´s in my opinion one of the reasions why we on this forum love her music so much.  But on the other handside she wrote songs like "Always you", "You and him", "Dreamer", "Going home", "Oh Dear", etc. , all songs, I think, that immediately catch the ear of the listener. There is no such song on the new album. So my first feeling maybe was a little bit of disappointment.
But my feelings changed while listening to the songs more often and thoroughly. Why was I´m looking for one single outstanding song?  The songs of Sophie´s new album are depending more on each other than the songs on her earlier albums did. This now means for me that I have to understand the "Ocean And Me" album as one "piece of art" with all of the songs  belonging together.  And while I´m listening to the album as a whole, I discover more and more fascinating and mystical sounds and moments and, indeed, such masterpieces like "Passing By" and "I Will Be There", my two favorite songs of the new album. Both songs bring some very new elements into Sophie´s music.  While "Passing By" sounds to me like an old fashioned, romantic folk song from the South of the US (kind of Willie Nelson), "I Will Be There" almost sounds like a happy reggae summer song.
So, what´s my final conclusion?:  "The Ocean And Me" is - in the most positive way - a "typical" Sophie Zelmani album, it´s very quiet and with a lot of drama and melancholy. Nevertheless this album seems different in many ways. It doesn´t include the typical "chartbreaker song" but it works and sounds great as a whole.  And even if  there is missing a second "Going Home" on this CD each of us mindful listeners will find his or her masterpieces. For me these masterpieces are "Passing By" and "I Will Be There".

So what are you thougths? 

Markus

[septem]

hey i'm a sophie's fan from china,i'm so exciting today.

i'm agree with what you said,at first,i can't found one song can caught my ears,the impression is this is a quiet album,but when i played the album for more times,i found that it is a wonderful album.

i love the song"i will be there"best,too.
i hope everyone can enjoy this album,the album's name is the ocean and me,i'm 20 now,and i haven't seen the sea ever,i hope i can take these songs to the seaside one day.

sorry for my poor English

[septem]

and i think this room is a very special song

[jan gruyaert]

I think we have to be honest : I cannot find a strong melody as we can find on the earlier albums.  I was hoping for a catchy song that could be a single.  Here in Belgium, if you do not have a single that sells a little, you can forget album-sale.  The 3 latest albums were not available here, no songs on the radio, the name Zelmani is unknown. 
Only 'Always you' is known over here and is played now and then.  I cannot understand the record-company is not asking for a real single.  "I will be there", ...  I'm afraid the song is a little to weak to promote the whole album.  After a long waiting, it is a missed apportunity, I think.

I love slow music, nostalgic, dream-music, sphere, ... but I think it is to slow and soft.  Sophie is a young woman so I cannot understand why she doesn't like some real up-tempo-songs with a catchy chorus (such as Who I am, You and Him, ...) like on earlier albums.    Is she really having such a rough and hard time these days ? 

I was hoping for some more strong instrumental parts too.  The piano-riffs and guitar-parts on some songs of Sophie are really wonderful and are melodies on their own (examples : Stand by, Broken, So long, I'll remember you, Once, Stay with my heart, ... and my personal Zelmani-favourit  : "How is your heart doing", listen to the flute-part !!).  Sophie learned me to listen to a classic guitar and a simple piano on her music.   

It is a nice album but it asks some time from the listener.  Here voice is wonderful and honest  But ...I had no 'Waww'-effect.   
Of course, when you listen to it 5 times, you learn the songs and they will get in your head.
I will listen to it a lot but a little more to the earlier work...

[zuperparanoid]

I don’t think Sophie will receive many new fans with this album, because it’s not as commercial or mainstream as previous releases. But do you know what reflect a great album? It’s not the one you love on first listening, but the one that grows on you – and “The Ocean and Meâ€

[Markus]

Hi Jan,

I understand your feelings with the new album very well, even if we get to different conclusions. As I described my first impressions were very similar to yours. But I think I was really honest to myself when I said that these impressions changed while listening to the album more deeply. I´m a Sophie fan, of course, but even as a fan I always try to be objective and honest.    And I really like "The ocean and me" album.
You wrote, that you "cannot understand the record company would not asking for a real single" and you called it "a missed oportunity".  On this point we really differ. One of the reasons I adore Sophie is the fact that she seems to have found the kind of music and songs she is happy with. She have found them a long time ago and since then she composes mostly very quiet and melancholic songs. And these songs, her own and self composed songs, are in my opinion more authentic than most of the commercial stuff. Indeed, I think, that Sophie is one of the most authentic artists I know. So what would happen if the record company would press Sophie to compose and perform more commercial songs. Would the songs really become better, or only more well known and commercially successfull? I think, if the record company would ask Sophie for a "mainstream" and more successfull single she would answer: "No way, I´m writing the kind of songs I´m happy with. If you want some other stuff - Here is my house and my little family and my little island. I don´t have to write songs for a big audience at all".. And that´s exactly one of the reasons why I like Sophie.  ;)

Markus

[jan gruyaert]

I really hope that Sophie can keep her own style for always and for me it is nice to be fan of a 'small' and 'unknown' singer.  You can impress people with her music sometimes and they are overwhelmed.  But as I said, making albums/music is big business.  Even if it is folk, poprock, mainstraim, soft, ... at the end of the road, the record company makes the bill.      It is not good for us, fans, that a record doesn't sell well.    A lot of singers with good music and the best intentions are sitting home ... working in a pub of selling clothes in a store.    I don't think Sophie is making music for her local cultural centre.    But we all know, the kind of Sophies music doesn't belong in the charts and will never be.  She is to original, to good, for that.

But as written by someone else here: with this album there will be no new fans.    And that is a little regrettable. 
I only wanted a little bit more pop-influances, a very little bit more mainstream (1 or 2 songs only).  An album needs really a song (or two) to introduce an album to the big public. I think this is possible without losing her personnality.    Perhaps, just like the 3 first albums, a mix, but very Sophie....

[Markus]

Hi Jan,

I really know what you mean and I would totally agree with you if I hadn´t the feeling that Sophie would become more popular with each new album here in my home country Germany. So it may be a different thing in your country Belgium. Of course Sophie isn´t that well known here in Germany either - that means she is not a big, big star, that kind who would get invited in TV shows  - , but at least you now can buy all of her CDs in almost every bigger or smaller music store. (I´m, for example, living in a middle sized town here in Germany and really all of the four or five CD stores I know sell Sophie´s albums. That was very, very different three or four years ago here in Germany, too, when you really got a hard time searching for her CDs.)  So it´s my impression that she here becomes more and more popular with a bigger and bigger audience. Some hints may be that now many big and well known magazines and newpapers here in Germany write reviews of every new CD she releases. Even the most important German television channel made a small but fine review 2 years ago when Sophie released her "A Decade of Dreams" CD. 
One more hint in this direction may be, that the locations which Sophie will visit on her tour through Germany this year are bigger (and in some cases more well known) ones than the small clubs of her earlier concerts here in Germany. So I really haven´t such a bad feeling about Sophie´s popularity - at least here in Germany.
And one more very interesting notice: I don´t know the exact reason why, but Sophie became very popular here in Germany with her album "Love Affair". It´s one of my favorite albums as well, but this album is one of her quieter ones. On this album is missing a typical chart song as well as on "The Ocean And Me" album. 

So, Jan, let´s hope, that Sophie´s music becomes more popular in Belgium as well. But let´s hope, too, that she has not to change her style to much to achieve this goal.   

Markus

[kentech]

I received the album signed by Sophie yesterday and I absolutely love it!

It's different like some of you have said but for me it is just right. And it's one of those that will just grow and grow on you the more you listen to it. The first time I was a bit sceptical but already the second time through I could see the perfection... 

Look very much forward to taking the trip over to Sweden next month now to see her live. Now I just have to decide when and where I should go.

[kentech]

I'm almost prepared to say this is my favourite album by Sophie yet....it's perfect!

[Fred]

Hi everybody !
I’m still waiting the delivery of my cd, but I recorded songs on deezer,  and could listen (and listen, and listen) to the album … so, I’m gonna try to express my impressions (hard in English, but I'll try (c; ).

First of all, I can admit now that I’ve been a little bit disappointed the last time with  “Memory Loves Youâ€

[Guild]

If it not sounding commercial is great in my opinion. The problem use to be the opposite, artist that want to make alot of money and change there music so it can sell more, that's the way it use to be. The title track "Ocean and me" is hit in my opinion, give it a extra listen. I agree it's not a hit record overall but it's onest and wonderful and even better than last I think.

[Bernd]

I must say that I like this album, too. As Markus and many others pointed out, you have to listen to it as "one (master)piece of art", and for me it's still getting better and better every time I listen to it.
I can hardly say if there are any "favourites" for me on this album. I like to see it as a kind of concept album (can I say this?) and it's hard for me to just pick one or two tracks and say "ok, these are my absolute favourites"... I really like all songs on "The Ocean And Me" , but perhaps 'The Ocean And Me', 'Composing', 'Time' and 'Passing By' may fit best as "pseudo favourites" for me.

I'm just listening to one really great piece of art. Thanks a lot for this album, Sophie! 

[qokyax]

From my point of view... This is a very good Sophie Zelmani Album

Again, some great work from her band, great guitars from Lars Halapi!! Lyrics and songs are still sounding like Sophie but have evolved again since the last album to become more folk, more inspired by different cultures (I hear reggae, I hear spanish influences, etc.) but still so quiet, peaceful and inspiring.

The sound is again perfect, when I play the CD, I sometime feel like the band is actually playing in my apartment, as we can hear every single guitar note, sound, every whisper from Sophie. it sounds intimate.

I think this album is in the exact continuation of earlier ones. Less and less "pop" like her first album, more and more Folk every times And that's what I'm looking for.

Yeah I wish she could sell more albums here, so that she could come in france for at least one show, but it would mean she'd have to change and to sound more pop than she is actually And I don't want this

D.

[jan gruyaert]

The album is sitting in my car now for a sevaral weeks, so I can make a little conclusion.  It is a fact that the album grows on you.  The more and more you listen to, the puzzle pieces fit.  I think the car is the excellent place to listen to it.  It is just like Sophie is sitting on the back seat, playing and singing for you.

For me the best song is : "Wind took my sail".    She sings it wonderful and the music gives you the feeling you are really on a boat.  You hear the see and feel the wind.

Other very fine songs :

- Composing  (I cannot really find the meaning of 'Composing' in this contect, help is welcome...)
- The Ocean and Me
- Passing by  (one of the songs that stay in the head after one listening)
- Yeah Okay  (she sings it in a very erotic way)
- I will be there

I have some problems with 'Spring Love' and 'I've got a suspicion  (strange arrangement, the lines are not fitting with the music).    These are the minor songs for me.

Like I wrote some weeks ago, I is still pitty there is no uptempo song on it in a more pop-style.  Just one song would be enough, to get airplay on our radiostations.      This kind of music has no place on our belgian radio I'm afraid.    So I read no reviews in a paper of music magazine, not heard on the radio, no CD's in the Belgian musicshop, ...    The same situation like in France I think.    But it is a choice of Sophie herself, I read that she is not playing 'Always You' in her live concerts ?    It's a pitty because thanks to this song I know her !    Thanks to this site there is an internatian Sophie-interest.    I really hope the album sells good in Sweden and other parts of the world.    Then,  Sophie can write new songs in a healthy way.

The only advantage of this situation is that Sophie Zelmani is really something very personnal.  My little secret.    So I put it on when I have a dinner with friends or family.  The soft voice and the pure guitar is a perfect combination with a good glas of wine.

So, the Ocean, some wine, Sophie and me....


note:  is there anyone here who knows her personnaly and know if she reads this site too ?  Is she interested in what the fans write about her ?

G