Time is the new song from Montreal via Quebec City musician Sophia Bel, her first single since 2017. Having grown up in the early 2000s, Bel's youth tracked its way through skate-punk and emo. Whilst her music is inspired by electro-pop and trip-hop, dosed with an overwhelming sense of melancholy.
Time is released along with Bel’s announcement of her debut EP, Princess of the Dead. Describing the new single she said:
“Time really set the tone for the EP. It felt like the beginning of a fantasy that later transcended into the 3 other songs of this record. The mood is blue, with visions of a windy coast in a sunny paradise. The energy is dreamy and nostalgic. What inspired the lyrics was my difficulty to let my guard down. I was listening to a lot of trip-hop at the time and the artist that rubbed of on me the most in this one is Moby.”
You can definitely hear Moby’s influence in the gently unfurled piano on Time, but there is also a real late-90s / early-00s feel to that basic bouncy electronic bass sound. Sophia’s vocals are the star of this piece though... They manage to capture the somewhat damaged feel of Portishead whilst creating their own distinctive, haunted sound. It’s a little bit like a 90s trip-hop piece through the lens of modern alternative R&B.