SOFIA DEVITT’S DEBUT ALBUM: RESTLESS & EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Sofia Devitt’s debut album Restless combines a blend of 70s-inspired riffs and emotional storytelling. The talented Boston-based multi-instrumentalist produced an album that explores the chaos of overthinking and the devotion of finding your voice. Sofia's impassioned vocals are driven through narrative-driven lyrics, channeling heartbreak and joy through self-discovery. 

From an early age, Sofia began experimenting with music and playing a wide range of instruments at fifteen years old. By 2023, she released her EP, Muscle Memory, produced on her own through her ability to play as a guitarist, pianist, bassist, and saxophonist. Her music is multi-faceted, containing balanced layers of guitars, string arrangements, and harmonious background vocals, bringing together an intricate album.

Opening the album with “Snowfall” is a track that sounds like it carries an old Irish folk tune, with subtle violin weaving in and out throughout the background as Devitt's voice delicately balances between the instruments. 

Leading to the album’s title track, Restless commences with fast-plucked acoustic guitar riffs, built from the narrative of emotional confusion from the lyrics “This confusion keeps me up all night,” Which quickly bursts into an arrangement of drums, a 70s guitar solo, and captivating harmony of backing vocals.   

The song “Good For Me” is genuine sunshine, with a background ambiance of birds chirping and warm acoustic plucking that illustrates feelings of gentle and quiet love. Devvits' lyrics sing, “We’re covered in rain but we’re both still dancing,” capture the feeling of discovering love that feels unfamiliar and new but still safe. Devitt explains her anxieties of feeling vulnerable through the song lyrics, especially when this new person makes her feel safe, and that this person feels too good to be true. Her fears are getting in the way of letting her relationship with this person become real, but allowing her to learn how to trust herself.

Most heartbreakingly, “Birthday Card” is a post-breakup ballad describing the ache of letting someone go even though you want to hold on to them, and this song takes the listener through her experience. The song builds up like a slow burn, with the verse, “Talking to you won’t bring you home / You’ve moved along and I get it,” highlighting a quiet disconnection and the feeling of being in a one-sided relationship. Even though she feels unseen and unloved, she craves the connection of wanting to be loved like she does for this person. The track's emotional weight concludes with an electric guitar that lands like a fading heartbeat. 

Devitt’s skill as a songwriter and a multi-talented producer glows through “Fueling the Fire,” which seems like a realization from “Birthday Card” of being in a one-sided relationship. The light of a match sparks the beginning of the song, and the strumming of the acoustic guitar builds up the ache and anger of putting in effort into an unreciprocated relationship. Devitt echoes the lines, “Say it's a shame that we got burned so bad / But you hold the matches behind your back,” exposing the self-deception and betrayal of a person she loves. Her vocals build with passion at the end of the track as the sound of the acoustic guitar slowly carries it away. 

The concluding track ‘Muddy Soles,” brings clarity to the conflicts vocalized throughout the album. “Muddy Soles” opens through layers of quick strums of acoustics with vocal harmonies creating a landscape of nostalgia. This song captures the remembrance of someone from their past through intricate details, such as hearing a specific song or, as she sings, “There’s space by the door where you’re shoes used to be.” The empty space illustrated in this line creates a bittersweet sense of longing for someone who is no longer taking space in your life, but feeling content with having an opportunity to have a great memory with this person. 

INTERVIEW

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INTERVIEW ☆

We had the chance to talk with Sofia about the narrative behind her album, her musical upbringing and how she has grown as an artist and person through her development as a multi-talented musician. Here’s what she shared:

CRAVE: With so much creative output showing through your lyrics, what part of this album feels the most like you, as the most emotionally vulnerable moment?

SOFIA: The closing track Muddy Soles holds a very special place in my heart. It feels very close to me because I wrote it about the people that are closest to me in my life. When I first got to college I felt extremely overwhelmed, and while I felt somewhat uncomfortable in a new environment, I found comfort in recalling times with my friends from home. As funny as it sounds, I initially was inspired to write this song after thinking of my friend’s old dirty shoes… She had this pair of white converse that had the soles falling off, paint splattered all over them, mud and grass stains, and tears all over. But I think what drew me to these seemingly beat up shoes was that I could see all of our memories together on all the stains and rips. The paint stains were there from when were 15, and the grass stains were from the many hikes and walks we went on throughout school. I thought those shoes seemed like the perfect object to symbolize the memories I made with my friends. This song always brings me joy when I play it because I always think of them, and it makes me feel the most like myself.

CRAVE: How did you start experimenting with instruments? From playing the guitar to the saxophone?

SOFIA: I initially started experimenting with instruments by learning to play the piano by ear when I was 8. My dad encouraged me to listen to songs I liked and play along with them. I became obsessed with the gratification that came with playing along to my favorite music and I continued to try this on other instruments. Over the years I learned how to play bass, drums, ukulele, saxophone, and eventually guitar! I started playing guitar when I was 12 and immediately fell in love with it. Now it’s the instrument I use to write most of my songs.

CRAVE: You mentioned growing up on movie musicals and Broadway soundtracks. Are there any specific musicals, shows, or films that helped shape your sound or songwriting?

SOFIA: Growing up I was always singing around the house (most likely the Grease or Hairspray soundtrack…). I would study those movies and musicals, and I became obsessed with learning the dances and lyrics and eventually I realized I wanted to make music that would hopefully give people the same feeling. Two of my favorite musicals are Wicked and Waitress and they have been heavy influences on the orchestration in my music. I love writing and arranging string parts and Broadway Musicals are top-tier examples of that. I think that the big arrangements in my songs come somewhat naturally from growing up listening to those big musical arrangements.

CRAVE: How has your relationship with vulnerability and your openness in songwriting evolved since Muscle Memory, your first release?

SOFIA: Since I released Muscle Memory I have undergone many changes in my life and grown up since then. I think that since writing that EP, I have learned not to hold back with what I’m feeling when I write. I remember being so concerned with what other people thought when I wrote music, and I feel myself slowly getting better at not prioritizing others’ opinions as time goes on. While I am so proud of those songs, I think after writing and listening to this album I have come a long way and I’m excited for people to hear it!

CRAVE: Is there a production element, lyric, or feeling that ties the songs on the album altogether? 

SOFIA: Restless was the first song I wrote for this project and it inspired the whole album. I had this idea of laying down in bed and getting lost in thought about things that have happened, or are happening in your life. While Restless explores the feelings of overthinking and spiraling, each song on this album represents a different thought when you’re falling asleep. Thinking about people you love, your friends, people that have hurt you, or built you up. This is the concept that ties the whole album together.

CRAVE: When you think about this album years from now, what do you hope it says about who you were during this time in your life or any lessons that you learned, as an artist or as a person?

SOFIA: I look at these songs as diary entries for how I am feeling at this point in time. I hope I can look back on this album and be transported to exactly where I was when I wrote these songs, or the memories that I had when writing these songs. And more importantly, I hope other people can look back on this album and recount their own memories with each song.

Devitt’s inspiration from musicals shows through the song’s narrative arc and her dynamic range of vocal delivery. Her unique sound is a culmination of her favorite musicians and the inspiration that exists through her friends, which she has fused to create this album. Through the experience of Restless, listeners can seamlessly identify subtle and diverse influences such as Paramore’s vocal and emotional spirit, Hozier's lyrical poetry, driven by Beabadoobee’s pop-infused guitar track.

Listening to Restless tells a heartbreaking story about unrequited love, learning to grow through heartbreak, and reflecting on past memories, which feels like a movie in of itself. Her ability to convert her vulnerable and confusing emotions into an organized multi-layered composition of instruments showcases her talent as a musician and a powerful storyteller. 

Sofia Devitt encourages listeners to tune into their own memories and enter a space of vulnerability through Restless. Grab tickets for the Restless Tour and listen to the full album here!

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