You get the feeling Sophia Knapp doesn't spend much time online. Or like, spends her time online exclusively in deep Live-in-Japan bootleg YouTube territory. Early on "Close to Me," the delicate acoustic guitar and Knapp's slow, echoing voice put her in the same retro lane of fellow Drag City artist Meg Baird, a just-as-timelessly-voiced singer whose entire, organic musical essence seems totally divorced from a world where Kim Dotcom exists. But where Baird rustles up old folk traditionals, Knapp aims her nostalgia at the funkier ’70s—halfway into "Close to Me," the bass finally strolls in and synth flutes dizzy around her, transporting the song to this nostalgic party-place none of us have really been but that we all recognize. Knapp's debut Into the Waves, which features two great duets with a likeminded Bill Callahan, comes out February 28th.
Download: Sophia Knapp, "Close to Me"