Sonja Roth - Before Sonoluminescence

Sonja Roth

Before Sonoluminescence
self-released; 2016

3.5 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Sonja Roth is an artist originally from Switzerland and now located in the UK. She recently released Before Sonoluminescence which is a complete DIY project revolving around guitar and her vocals. 

The first thing I have to mention is her voice. I thought she had a pretty voice but I had a hard time making out what she is saying and it's not because of the production. It’s her pronunciation. I’m not sure if this is intentional or not but it's really something that she has to be aware of. It's almost like she is stringing together the words or using a De-esser with extreme settings taking out important sounds.

Truth be told there isn’t a whole lot of analysis that's needs to be done on Before Sonoluminescence. The songs are extremely basic revolving around a couple of chords and her vocal melodies. 

The EP opens with “sokrates spoke.” There isn't much energy to the song and it is rather melancholy. The song wasn’t the strongest of the batch and was the one in particular that it was hard to make out her words.  Up next is “crocodile tears” which fares a bit better. The song is still melancholy but a little bit more palatable. “Snowman” is the highlight of the four songs. I could make out her vocals much better on this song and the xylophone type instrument works on the song. The song is a basic waltz. Short, pleasant and melodic. Good stuff. She closes with “raining flowers” which is another slow burner but features a short appearance by a woodwind instrument.

These songs revolve around her lyrics and the aesthetic qualities of her voice. Plain and simple. There really isn’t enough going on with the guitar playing alone to make the songs hold up. As I mentioned previously I think she does have a pretty voice but she has to work on making sure people can understand what she is saying.

​Roth has some innate talent. I’d say with some tweaking and progress she could come into her own.

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