In this special run of ‘Listed’ features, we get to know the incredible artists playing our upcoming Alt. Escape showcase through a themed list of their top musical picks.

First up, we chat with rising US singer-songwriter Sofia Wolfson.

Born in LA and raised on a rich diet of Joni Mitchell and the Beatles, precocious musician Wolfson started playing guitar at 6, writing music at 9 and even started playing her first shows by the tender age of 13. Now 19-years-of-age studying and based in Boston, Wolfson has fortified her lilting, indie-rock flair and really is writing some of the strongest coming-of-age gems of the moment, delivered with an ease and assurance that belies her still incredibly youthful years.

Since 2016 Wolfson has released a steady stream of intoxicating works, including her debut full-length Hunker Down, her 2017 Side Effects EP and most recently, her most fully-formed release to date, Adulting. It’s a truly arresting EP, rich with precisely-observed tales detailing the minutiae of everyday life. Woozy, standout single ‘Nothing’s Real’ might well speak to the tone of the EP as a whole, deftly exploring the debilitating worry of being unproductive through classic country-inflected songwriting. Wolfson has proved herself a true talent on the rise so we urge you to come down to our old haunt The Mucky Duck in Brighton on Friday 10^th May and catch Wolfson’s set at the stage we’re presenting with our buddies Hand In Hive and CALM.

As with previous years, we thought it would be fun to get to know all the artists playing our showcase by asking them to curate a personal playlist on a theme of their own choosing in advance of the show. An incredible wordsmith in her own right, Wolfson has kindly offered us her playlist: ‘10 Songs I Wish I Wrote’.

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1. Etta James – ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’ (written by Ellington Jordan)

This is the perfect break up song. I wish I wrote these lyrics because they’re so simple, yet capture the feeling so well. I find myself always looking back to artists like Etta James to learn that it doesn’t take a ton of complex, lengthy verses to get the point across. I think the simplicity is what makes it so perfect. ‘When the reflection in the glass that I held to my lips now baby / Revealed the tears that was on my face’ is seriously one of the greatest and most heartbreaking images ever.



2. Bob Dylan – ‘You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go’

One of my favorite songs of all time off of my favorite Dylan album Blood on the Tracks. I think this song has some of the best verse lines ever: ‘I've been shooting in the dark too long / When something’s not right it's wrong / You're gonna make me lonesome when you go.’ But I mainly learned this tune because I fell in love with Shawn Colvin’s version. I’m always jealous of Dylan’s way of packing so much into a verse.



3. Blake Mills – ‘History of My Life’

Though I grew up on The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello and more, my single favorite album is Break Mirrors by Blake Mills. I was in middle school when I first heard it and I was hooked. I still listen to it every time I’m on a flight taking off because it’s so comforting to me. It’s an album I constantly return to and I always hear new things I haven’t heard before whenever I listen to it. This song in particular gets me every time. It’s the last song on the album and it just captures a small moment so perfectly. ‘Hot pink catamarans, the food begging call of the pelicans / Swimming garbage and sifting over disappointing gifts friends’ it starts. I really wish I wrote that.



4. Lucinda Williams – ‘Fruits of My Labor’

If I had to choose only ONE song I wish I wrote, it would be this one. I learned a lot from listening to Lucinda growing up. She has this ability of taking just a few chords and making something so unique. Her words are so to-the-point and her writing really pushed me to be specific, to not be ashamed to be detailed, to say how I really feel. But the genius of it is even though her words are so specific, the songs are universal; so many people can relate. I think this song is the perfect example of that. ‘Baby, I remember all the things we did / When we slept together in the blue behind your eyelids.’ How do you come up with the ‘blue behind your eyelids’? It’s the most bizarre and beautiful image of intimacy.



5. Joni Mitchell – ‘This Flight Tonight’

I had to include a Joni tune in this list because even though you’ll hear this answer from a lot of people, Blue was one of the main reasons I started writing music. I think this song is not appreciated enough. Something I learned from Joni was how to use rhythm in lyrical phrases - that it’s not just about the words but how they sound together. I think this song has one of the coolest vocal rhythms ever, the way her voice goes along with the instrumentation. ‘I'm drinking sweet champagne / Got the headphones up high / Can't numb you out / Can't drum you out of my mind’ is my favorite line.



6. The Band – ‘It Makes No Difference’

I grew up watching The Last Waltz and have been a huge Band fan my whole life. I chose this one because it makes me cry every time. I don’t know why I’m so attracted to heartbreak songs - but the way this one captures the idea of the remembrance of a person is so poignant and I wish I could write like this. Especially Rick Danko’s performance of this at The Last Waltz really gets me - the words take on a new level of emotion. ‘It makes no difference how far I go / Like a scar, the hurt will always show / And it makes no difference who I meet / They're just a face in the crowd on a dead-end street.’ I wish I wrote that line.



7. Olivia Kaplan – ‘This Is What I Do’

Olivia Kaplan is a writer I currently look up to a lot. The first time I heard this song, I had to listen to it again five more times. It was that exciting feeling where you think, “this might be the greatest song I’ve ever heard.” Along with the incredibly vibey, hip, steady production, the songwriting is incredible. My favorite line is: ‘You’re as still as you were / I’m as silent as I was / nobody’s talking so no one’s being heard / what am I to do with your love.’ My favorite thing about Olivia’s writing is she’s not afraid to slow down and take her time with a line, which makes it even more powerful.



8. Mika Viola – ‘Hair of the Dog’

Mike Viola is a very important songwriter to me because my parents would take me to go see him play at Largo when I was in elementary school. He is one of the best storytellers I know and he inspires me to choose words carefully in order to both craft the narrative and get the message across. This song in particular is off of a solo acoustic record called Just Before Dark that has some of the greatest songwriting ever, in my opinion. Along with words, Mike’s guitar playing is super unique and intricate, without overpowering the lyrics. I wish I could write guitar parts like his. This song has one of my favorite lyrics of all time: ‘If I pull myself together / Like a pair of open scissors / In a room of paper dolls / My eyes stay glued to the wall / I’m going down that road.’



9. Wilco – ‘Red Eyed and Blue’

I’m a huge Wilco fan. My dad played me the record Being There when I was little, but it wasn’t until high school that I became obsessed with the rest of their catalogue like Summerteeth and even some of the newer stuff. But Being There still remains my favorite Wilco record. This is a song I wish I wrote because there really are barely any words in it, but the lines that are there are so special. ‘We've got solid-state technology / Tapes on the floor / Some songs we can't afford to play,’ it begins. Jeff Tweedy has that incredible ability to capture a scene so quickly. With the instrumentation and the short verses, you can picture everything. Though there are many Wilco songs I wish I wrote, this tops the list.



10. Jenny Lewis – ‘She’s Not Me’

This song is a perfect banger. It’s simple, but there’s so much going on lyrically, even in short, clear phrases. I love how upbeat it sounds while dealing with such intense heartbreak and jealousy. I love the way it makes me feel when I’m driving down the freeway with the windows down. Cheesy, I know, but I think it’s a perfect song. My favorite part of the song is the bridge: ‘Remember the night I destroyed it all / When I told you I cheated / And you punched through the drywall / I took you for granted / When you were all that I needed.’



Adulting is out now and be sure to catch Wolfson at the free Hand In Hive x TMR x CALM Showcase on Friday 10th May at The Mucky Duck in Brighton.

-Karl Jawara