WINGS ON THE WAY DOWN WITH MUSICAL ARTIST A.M. SOKOLL

What fire new music can you tell your new fans here about? 

My album just dropped! Wings on the Way Down is my first full-length and considering how isolating the pandemic has been I’m so excited to be able to share something with people.

What is your favorite track on the album?

Goodness, that’s a difficult one to answer. Each track has their own unique flair which is what I love about it, but if I had to pick one right now I’d probably go with “A Bridge on the Verge of Collapsing”. It’s such an interesting and successful blend of styles, and so representative of the chaos and panic I tried to capture on the song.

Favorite verse?

Another difficult one but one I keep going back to is the second verse on “50-50”

• The odds don’t ever favor
  One side or the other
  Two roads diverge in a wood
  Both clouded in smoke

  No use in running
  When you’re in the ring of fire
  My only desire
  Is to not again choke

Between the imagery, wordplay and spin on the classic Robert Frost poem, it’s part of what makes 50-50 one of the better tracks lyrically in my opinion.

What’s a track to get you pumped?

A handful could work here but I would say “Static Forest”. It could easily be the backing music for a chase scene, perfect for the cardio lovers out there.

What’s a track that gets you in your feelings?

Another instance of there being a handful but “A Moment” would be my choice here. Between the lyrics and production it hits the soul in a way not many tracks here do.

What were you most meticulous about on your latest project?

Easily the horn and string harmonies. Over the last year and change I’ve been learning about music theory and it was important for me to put those skills to the test. Those harmonies are a perfect example of something super specific but they make a big difference.

Any collabs on the album?

Nope. In fact, the only other person who worked on this with me was my go-to engineer, who also mixed and mastered the album (shoutout 1 shot studio). This was the epitome of a quarantine project as all the writing, composing and a snippet of vocals happened in my apartment. The rest of it was at the studio and I didn’t share the album with many people before its release.

Dream collab? 

There literally could be tens of artists I name here, but I will say I always thought it’d be cool to work with those in either the hip hop or EDM spaces. There are dozens of artists here in Seattle too that I could easily see myself working with. Talent is everywhere and anything to help buff up mine would be awesome.

Is there a critique you’ve gotten on your music that you worked through and it’s made the overall work better? 

The one that sticks out to me is when I first started making music, the main note I got from friends was songs being overcrowded. I have, to a fault, a propensity for grandiosity and in the beginning I had to learn that in some instances, less is more. Some of that is certainly tested on the album, but even then it’s more restrained than what it was. For the next project I’ll be going into it with the thought of “how can I do the most with the least amount possible?”

What are you most excited about for fans to hear on the latest music?

More than anything I’m excited for fans to even have something to hear. This pandemic has really tested me and I used this album as a means to cope with it. Plus, I’m always striving for the sum being greater than the parts, so I hope fans will listen all the way through!

Give us anything else you want to know about what you’re up to?

I don’t have any shows lined up and the Delta variant makes that tricky, so this fall and winter I want to dive deeper on production and mixing. My end goal is to be able to fully produce albums myself, so it’d be great to take another step there.

I also have a keytar collecting dust so probably more of that too!

How do we continue to follow you?

All my streaming and social links are at linktr.ee/amsokoll, but on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram you can follow me @amsokollmusic.