Dutch Sofie van Dyck once belonged to the neo-soul formation
The Souldiers, which delivered a beautifully accessible album with
These Times (2011). Van Dyck has since gone her own way as Sofie Winterson, debuting with
Sophia Electric (2018) on the renowned
Excelsior Recordings. Southern Skies came about with help from
Benny Sings and sounds completely different from her work with The Souldiers. It
… is a record with an intimate, sometimes brooding sound. These are songs that you could perfectly well imagine being performed only with an acoustic guitar, but on Southern Skies Winterson makes different choices. The accompaniment of floating synth sounds and lo-fi drum sounds proves to be a fine fit for Winterson's songs. The choruses sound dreamy and all have a high sing-along content. Thus, she gives her personal-sounding songs a nicely understated pop sound. (JV)more
