Sweat

Rough Trade co-founders Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee are excited about the label's newest signing, LA six-piece The Sophs. The band's brutal honesty, flamingly intrusive thoughts, and broad genre-spreading caught their attention immediately.

Rough Trade heard the sort of creativity and variety — and don’t expect me to act pretty sentiment — that could get The Sophs — including frontman Ethan Ramon, Sam Yuh (keyboards), Austin Parker Jones (electric guitar), Seth Smades (acoustic guitar), Devin Russ (drums), and Cole Bobbitt (bass) — a slot on nearly any stage.

"It’s rare that a demo that arrives in the post sets your heart racing and sends you off on a quest to track down its sender. But that’s what happened when we listened to the music sent to us by Ethan Ramon," Travis and Lee explain.

"As a band newly entering the public sphere, signing with Rough Trade felt like an act of symbiotic faith. They took as much of an interpersonal interest in us as we did in them. From late nights at the pub to earnest conversations about the real-life events that inspired our songs, Rough Trade has always been and continues to be a team of true music lovers - people we’re nothing short of honored to call our partners," says Ramon of their signing to the esteemed indie label.

Ramon further elaborates on ‘Sweat’, "To me, the song feels like an attempt to overcompensate in the face of grief, one that fails miserably and ends with you being swallowed whole. I tried to capture the moment when the tension breaks and you realize you’re no longer in control of your emotions; your emotions are in control of you. That realization is humbling."