07.05.2008
Vito have just completed their second album and it sounds great. No news on a release date or album title as yet, but they do have a show planned for the 29th May 2008 in Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff where they'lll be playing a set of completely new material.
To make it an even more special night, Robin Proper-Sheppard of Sophia has agreed to support them at this gig and will be performing a solo acoustic set.


10.04.2008
Sophia have now confirmed the Arti Vive Festival in Soliera (Modena/Italy) on June 14th. Access to the Arti Vive Festival is free.

Robin is also incredibly proud to announce that Malcolm Middleton and Stephen Jones (MM/Arab Strap guitar/piano player) will be joining him again for both the Arti Vive and Cactus Festivals this summer.

(He's also mentioned that with any luck, and a large amount of persistent persuading, he hopes to get them in the studio and contributing to the new Sophia album as well!)


31.03.2008
Sophia will be playing at the Cactus Festival in Bruges, Belgium on Sunday the 13th of July. This will be the only Belgian festival gig this year. The performance will be with an extended line-up (incl. strings) and the band will also play new material from a soon to be recorded studio album.

Cactus is a 3-day festival located in the beautiful settings of the Minnewater Park.
Other bands playing on Sunday are The Kills and Bootsy Collins.
The Friday and Saturday line-up includes the B-52's, Dinosaur Jr, The Cinematic Orchestra and Arno. More names will be announced soon.
Presales start Thursday 3rd of April.



04.02.2008
Sleepingdog (aka Chantal Acda) has just released her second album 'Polar Life'. Chantal, who also released two albums as Chacda (feat. Teuk Henri from Sharko), is originally from Holland but currently resides in Belgium.

The last song on the album is a cover of Sophia's 'If Only' (from 'The Infinite Circle'). The song is a Sleepingdog live favourite and has now been recorded as a quiet piano-driven duet with Adam Wiltzie from Stars Of The Lid.
Instructions on how to get a copy of the album can be found on www.sleepingdog.be.
Sleepingdog will be touring Belgium, The Netherlands and the UK in the next few months.


26.01.2008
When Malcolm Middleton joined Sophia last year for their gig at the Pukkelpop festival, Robin rightfully called him "one of the best songwriters of our generation". It now seems like Malcolm is returning the compliment on his soon to be released semi-acoustic/covers/mini album 'Sleight of Heart'.
It contains a song called 'Follow Robin Down', which is an ode to the superhero songwriter that is Robin Proper-Sheppard.

Here's a part of the chorus:
"When you're lost, follow Robin down
to the darkness where he hangs around
you can hear him singing songs
how he bounced off women
where it all went wrong
screaming at the screamers
holding up a light in the darkness"

'Sleight Of Heart' has 6 new tracks and 3 covers and will be available from the 3rd of March on Full Time Hobby Records. For a short period of time you can prelisten the album here.


24.11.2007
The Sophia forum has been moved to a new server and is up and running again. You'll be glad to know that what had been dubbed as the So Slow Forum is now super fast!
To celebrate I added a new Sophiamusic.net interview with Robin to the 2007 interview page. It somehow took me a whole year to finish it, but that's life I guess.
Stay tuned for more news...


13.07.2007
Robin Proper-Sheppard has announced that he plans on making the Sophia performance at this years Pukkelpop Festival (Belgium) a very special evening indeed.

For this unique occasion he will be accompanied by the string quartet, a woodwinds section (Flute, oboe, clarinet and bass clarinet) and trumpet as well as guitar, piano, bass and drums.

This ‘orchestral’ line-up will enable Robin to feature the debut performance of songs such as “Technology Won’t Save Us’ and ‘Twilight At The Hotel Moscow’ in all of their multi-instrumental glory as well as allowing him to create new and exciting arrangements for songs such as The Sea, The Desert Song and many others.

Robin has warned this will not be a ROCK concert.

Expect something different. Expect something wonderful...



13.05.2007
Another Summer Special: Sophia (Robin solo-acoustic with string quartet) will now also be playing the Immergut Festival, one of Germany’s premier independent music festivals, on Saturday, June 2nd.


07.05.2007
After Sophia's low-key but rapturously received return to the London live scene, Robin will again play a special acoustic concert at the London Spitz on Friday, June 8th in aid of the MacMillan Cancer Support Charity. Although the band line-up is yet to be confirmed, Robin has said that he would like to make this show a unique one-off event and as such hopes to be joined by various musicians/ instrumentation that might not have fit in with Sophia's more recent electric-based tours. Here's to hoping the older material gets a peek and maybe, possibly, even something new? More news soon... You can buy tickets (£5.00) here.

Sophia will also play at the Pukkelpop festival in Kiewit, Belgium, August 17.
Pukkelpop is a big three-day festival with 6 or 7 stages and 80+ bands playing. Other confirmed acts are Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, Nine Inch Nails, Arcade Fire, Iggy and the Stooges, The Streets, Turbonegro, Radio Soulwax,
2 Many DJs, The Hives, Tigan, Eagles of Death Metal, CocoRosie, Low, Badly Drawn Boy, Patrick Wolf, Goose, The Sounds, Battles, Architecture In Helsinki, The Whitest Boy Alive, Cansei de Ser Sexy, Two Gallants, Tokyo Police Club, Shitdisco, The Pigeon Detectives,...


24.04.2007
Advance tickets for the Sophia gig at the Spitz in London are now on sale. You can buy them at wegottickets.com.
Support will come from a band called The Ash and The Oak, which Robin met through producer Charlie Francis. There's even a possibility they be could working together in the future. A really great band, so come early.


18.04.2007
Tomorrow Radio BBS in Rome will broadcast part of the Sophia gig at the Roman Circolo degli Artisti. Radio BBS streams it's broadcasts on this website: www.radiobbs.it


24.03.2007
On the road again! Permit/entry clearance arrived yesterday. So Robin will play in Glasgow and Inverness. And Sophia (Robin solo) will now also support Malcolm Middleton at Audio in Brighton (28th March).


16.03.2007
A message from Robin about the upcoming UK support shows for Malcolm Middleton:
"Due to difficulties in getting 'entry clearance' on my work permit, I won't be able to make the first few shows with Malcolm. My UK agent is dealing with this as we speak though and we will hopefully have it resolved by Monday and, fingers crossed, I will be able to join the tour on Monday (19/3) in Norwich."


15.02.2007
Sophia seduce the Italians. 'Technology Won't Save Us' has just entered the official Italian charts at number 69.
And there's a four page interview with Robin Proper-Sheppard in the current issue of Italy's biggest music magazine Il Mucchio. One of the things Robin talks about is how he'd like to make a Collections:Two album full of collaborations with other musicians like Malcolm Middleton, Anthony Molina and Grasshopper (Mercury Rev), Ed Harcourt, Vito or Mogwai.
Sophia will tour Italy in April.
Update: Italian and Scandinavian dates are now in the tour section.


08.02.2007
The concert at the Pumpehuset in Copenhagen, Denmark has been rescheduled. Sophia will now visit Scandinavia in April. New dates will be announced once they're confirmed.


25.01.2007
Sophia will be touring the UK with Malcolm Middleton from March 17 to 25. All nights will be opened by Strike The Colours. More details in the Tour section.

On December 20 of last year, Robin played an acoustic session for Planet Claire on Aligre FM (France). You can now download MP3 and video files of the session from the Planet Claire site.
You can also download some artwork if you want to burn a cd of the session.


04.01.2007
To promote the Italian release of 'Technology Won't Save Us', Robin Proper-Sheppard will be playing an exclusive acoustic showcase at La Casa 139 in Milan on the 9th of January. Malcolm Middleton will also play an acoustic set that night. The show starts at 9:30pm .
Robin will be back in Italy in April to tour with the full band.

The first French date for the upcoming tour has just been confirmed. Sophia will play at the famous La Route du Rock Festival in Saint-Malo. More details and further dates in Germany, Austria, Holland, Belgium and Denmark can be found in the tour section.