Pure Potential

Sophie Hosken-Taylor‘s voice is smoky, breathy, and shaky. A tentative, beautiful sound. The sound of pure potential.

Sophie Hosken-Taylor performed around the South West for two years before she moved to London looking for a bigger audience. She names Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Amy MacDonald and Jose Vanders as her inspirations.

When I wrote my song, Breathe, the only other song I knew with the same title was one by Pink Floyd. Needless to say, no one would ever confuse the two songs. Now, with so many great songs out there with the same name, if I wrote Breathe today, I wouldn’t call it that. But it doesn’t matter that Sophie Hosken-Taylor gave the title track of her self-produced CD a popular name. The song is such a lovely wash of acoustic guitar and airy vocals, it’s unique. And besides, what’s more important than breathing?

 

Breathe

Many days I find myself asking, who am I?

Everyday I stare at the mirror,

And wonder who is looking back.

Is it a shadow?

Is it a ghost?

Is it someone I used to know?

And then it hits me…

I’m staring at me.

And I can’t breathe,

I can’t see.

I can’t breathe,

Without you holding me up,

Up against it all.

Too many times I’ve locked myself away,

In exile I’ve stayed.

Now I’m trapped in my own mind and I’m scared,

It’s here I’ll stay.

Will I come back?

Escape from it all?

Can I be what I used to be and let it all,

Blow away?

I can’t breathe,

I can’t see.

I can’t breathe,

Without you holding me up,

Up against it all.

And if I could I’d stop it from ever happening.

And I wish I could let it slide and fade away.

I can’t breathe,

I can’t see.

I can’t breathe,

Without you holding me up,

Up against it all.

Music and lyrics written by Sophie Hosken-Taylor.
Vocals, Guitar, Drums performed by Sophie Hosken-Taylor.
Bass performed by Ashley Poulton.

Recorded by Ashley Poulton and Sophie Hosken-Taylor.

To listen to Breathe in its entirety, go here. To listen to It Could Have Been Worse, go here. To be a super cool person, like Sophie on fb.

To see what convinced me of that one day  Sophie Hosken-Taylor will not have to seek her audience because they will be looking for her, click on the picture below.

Solitude

S t r e t c h  . . . blink, blink.

Okay, I’m back. I think.

Sorry about the silence. As you may know Sirenstories.com is 1-year-old now, which means, I’ve basically reached my goal of posting a new indie artist every week.

The thing is, I’m a very goal oriented person, so . . . what? What does that mean for Sirenstories? I’m not sure. Maybe it means the posts will become irregular, something that, ahem, has already been happening. Or, it might mean posting simple recommendations of music I love, and not searching out new indie artists that are tougher to find, not posting pictures and links and short bios or their comments like I’ve often done this past year. I just don’t know.

One thing I do know, is that I’m very busy, like all of you. Too busy. Spending a little time this summer looking at the water and doing nothing is high on my to do list. It kind of sucks that DO NOTHING is even on a list though, right?

But since it is, just for today, (whoa, that sounds awfully familiar), I promise myself a few minutes of solitude. And in celebration of solitude, I offer you this song from Jade Lawhon. 

Sounds from the Tomb has popped into my head dozens of times since I first heard it, the day I posted this.

You may have missed this quirky, haunting, sexy song in the original post about Jade,  because it wasn’t the featured song. I’m glad to share it with you again, it’s been in my head, and deserves to be in yours.

See you next week. Maybe. See you soon. Definitely. Now go look at the water. Go.