interview: sabrina trueheart
“For a while, I just felt musically directionless,” she admits. “Now, I feel like there's something here, something cohesive that I'm proud of, that feels like me. I feel like I can breathe again.”
Close your eyes and take one listen to Sabrina Trueheart’s new single “Soft”, and you’d be convinced she was a ‘flower child’, singing to you straight from the ‘60s.
It’s an impressive feat to conjure up such a decades-old sound so effortlessly, but especially so when you learn that Sabrina is in her mid-twenties. But this ‘60s aesthetic – both in her music, and her daily life – is simply one Sabrina has always been drawn to.
“It's where all my life's influence comes from,” Sabrina admits. “Everything I wear and listen to and collect – I feel like it's very fitting for that reason. I have such an affinity for the ‘60s and ‘70s that it comes out in everything I do. So it's not surprising that it went to my music now.”
This affinity is especially evident in the Led Zeppelin and Blind Faith influences Sabrina cites when talking about “Soft”; she even filmed a music video for the song using a 1960s Kodak Brownie antique movie camera.
With lyrics like “I don’t know if it’s my age / Getting older has its ways / All I know is I’ve found myself lost…”, the song is instantly relatable – a feat, considering how personal it is to Sabrina.
“‘Soft’ is about accepting the parts of ourselves we wish were not so,” she explains. “On a smaller scale, it is about me, and learning to accept that I am simply a sensitive person.”
A Capital Region transplant, Sabrina grew up in Connecticut and studied music at Fairfield University. Her family was a big influence on her musical journey, with her grandparents playing in bands professionally, and she cites her father as an inspiration for her retro tastes.
“My father has an affinity for all things vintage from his childhood, growing up in the ‘70s,” she recalls. “It's a journey of my own as well, because since I became an adult, I've been much more in tune with that side of me.”
After graduating with formal jazz guitar training, Sabrina and her partner moved to Brooklyn for a short while. They quickly realized how expensive it was to live there, and decided to move upstate where she began settling into the Capital Region’s vibrant music scene. With that move came a new drive creatively.
“It wasn’t until I moved here that I was really gigging. I’m just starting to get things up and running for real – the debut single, more gigs, and I’m doing a little tour in September.”
Recorded at Ace Tone Productions – a “tucked away” studio in Bethany, Connecticut – the aforementioned single “Soft” incorporates the training and techniques that she learned during her time in college. Coupled with her fondness for the “hippie era”, the multi-layered guitar tracks and ethereal vocals make for a unique listen sure to appease folk and acoustic-pop fans alike.
“When I first moved here, and even in high school, I was a very simple, ‘three-chords-and-the-truth’ kind of person. [“Soft”] is very much inspired by my jazz training and vocal training and I feel like there's a clear vision for this project. I'm very vision focused; I don't like when things don't have a purpose.”
To support the song’s release, which was released on all major streaming platforms on August 16th, Sabrina is embarking on a brief listening room tour in September, including stops in Vermont, New Jersey, and downstate in Nyack.
What’s on the horizon for Sabrina is still a mystery – she hopes to have a full album out in the next couple years – but for now, she is happy to remain grounded in the present, reflecting on the musical path she’s on with gratitude and acceptance.
“For a while, I just felt musically directionless,” she admits. “Now, I feel like there's something here, something cohesive that I'm proud of, that feels like me. I feel like I can breathe again.”
