SoKo - From acting to indie-pop

There are just a few minutes left before the soundcheck for the Rome date of Stéphanie Sokolinski, aka SoKo, the French artist of Polish origin who's opening for the currently more famous Pete Doherty.

Her name, at least in Italy, isn't well known yet, while in France, Scandinavia, England and Australia she's racked up numerous sold-out shows, applause earned thanks to her artistic talent but also her promotional savvy. In fact, her debut album for a record label - Because - is only coming out now, whereas previously her songs travelled through the web and a self-released 2007 EP under the name Not Sokute. In November 2006 she made headlines when one of her songs ("I'll Kill Her"), recorded on a mobile phone in her bedroom, went viral on Myspace, racking up over three million views.

The author of delicate compositions built from acoustic guitar, laptop and whispered vocals, in 2010 SoKo forged an important artistic partnership with Fritz Michaud, the producer of the last Elliott Smith album, "From A Basement On A Hill".

The Bordeaux-born artist had so many songs ready that she could have recorded two albums, and in truth these were almost ready to be released, but in 2008 she had second thoughts, finding them all too perfect and lacking in spontaneity. It took time and Michaud's support to pick the best of them to work on, namely the 14 tracks that make up the album "I Thought I Was An Alien", whose lyrics tackle, with real emotional depth, the themes of death, love, loneliness and freedom.

You're an "abulic" songwriter with over a hundred songs written across your career. For this album you had as many as 60 to choose from. How did you go about selecting the best ones to include on the record?

It wasn't an easy choice. There were a lot of second-guessing moments. Without a doubt, the help and suggestions of someone as experienced as Fritz meant I could have a clear direction in which to steer the album's moods and themes.

Throughout your career you've often positioned yourself against the music business, using the internet and self-production instead as vehicles to get your songs out there. Reading many of the statements you've made in the past, you seem to claim a kind of total artistic and personal freedom. Yet you're also an actress, so in a way you have to follow someone else's rules, like those dictated by a script and a director…

It might seem like a contradiction, but it actually isn't, because I carefully choose which films to act in and who to work with. If it's a story I'm passionate about, directed by someone I admire, then there's no problem. In music, though, I'm even more radical, because I consider it an intensely intimate and personal form of expression, so I'm not willing to compromise at all. I write my songs without thinking about who will listen to them, but trying to express my feelings and emotions as fully as possible.

Throughout your career you've often opened for major names like M.I.A., Daniel Johnston, Babyshambles, Kate Nash, Nouvelle Vague. What are you taking away from performing alongside such established, experienced musicians?

Actually, when we're together we never talk about music, but about completely different things…

Right, ok. In this case though I mean more in terms of observation, understanding how they handle the stage, the tour, the audience…

In that sense, they're very serious people, and I fully share their approach to how they relate professionally to this line of work.

Do you enjoy playing live?

I love it. When you're on stage, a special feeling builds up with the audience. I try to communicate the sensations I'm feeling with my whole self, and I often get truly rewarding responses. It's a certain kind of thrill, for instance, to see someone crying while I'm performing one of my songs.

What's one of your live shows like?

Right now it's just me with guitar and voice. Soon, though, once the tour to promote the CD kicks off, I'll have the band with me too, because I want to reproduce fairly faithfully the sound that defines "I Thought I Was An Alien".

In the studio, though, are you a stickler for detail?

Yes, maybe even too much so. We spent an enormous amount of time in the studio, not just choosing the right sounds but also getting the emotional intensity exactly right. For every single passage of a song we'd have at least three tracks to work on and then choose from.

And in private, what do you like to listen to?

Mainly Sad Music, the kind performed to perfection by people like Roy Harper, Michael Hurley, Davey Graham, Karen Dalton.

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