Landis brings music to change the soul

By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register

What makes a musician? Is it passion? Practice? Or the performing? Or, are they simply born that way? For local artist and Elkader native, Sophia Landis, in her own words, “I did not choose music. Music chose me. I basically came out of the womb singing.” 

She was born in the Elkader hospital back when it still delivered babies, and she began taking piano lessons at age three and has no memory of a time when music wasn’t an integral part of her life. She was inspired by her parents, who she admitted were not “heavily involved in music,” but they “sensed” the musical urge and talent in their daughter and provided every opportunity they could to nurture that talent. 

Speaking about her parents, Sophia said, “I would be nothing without their intuition and encouragement.”

When it comes to the songs, Sophia said she does not have a “set style,” and is “as moved by Beethoven and Gregorian chants” as she is by “bluegrass and dubstep.” She’s also been fond of bossa nova, psychedelic rock and ‘90s grunge. Never tied down to one genre, her musical interests are an evolving catalogue of musical influences and inspirations, but recently, given the tenor of the times, Sophia has begun a musical relationship with heavy metal. 

“I feel like 2020 has been a wild ride, and the universe was saving the intensity of heavy metal for me during this time. It’s one of the only genres that makes sense to me right now,” she said. 

It’s these different genres and her life experiences that provide the inspiration for Sophia’s original music. Typically, it’s the experiences of darkness or moments that have lived in the shadows, rather than from a “place of contentment” that fuels the artistry. 

As Sophia explained, “Nobody wants to go through hard times, but part of me gets excited to confront trials because I know a song lives on the other side.” 

It’s in this form of creation that Sophia is able to “create art for others to relate to in their own dark times when they might otherwise feel alone.” Her own experiences, disseminated to the public through her music, are there to be a light at the end of dark personal tunnels or traumas. 

This is also one of the main goals for Sophia, and it helps define what success means to her as an artist. It’s the ability to create a “sense of relation” or “an outlet for emotional relatability” that leads to people reaching out to Sophia for a myriad of reasons, including a couple who used her music to work through an ongoing argument. In some cases, people reach out because her music stopped them from committing suicide. 

Seeing people dance, cry and feel is being a successful musician according to Sophia. “If I never accomplished anything else, I already know I changed the world in some small way, and I’m good with that,” Sophia said. 

The themes of personal strength run throughout Sophia’s music, which she claims is “one of the purest forms of therapy.” Whether you’re in the darkness or the shadows, or overcome with glee, or feeling comfortably numb in a world gone mad, “a song exists for you to relate to,” Sophia said. 

Inside the themes are the metaphors that project a strong belief in our own abilities to achieve and overcome. For Sophia, she explained the metaphors are nature based, “such as the freedom of birds, the beauty of flowers or the flow of water.” 

It’s powerful imagery dispensing her own personal philosophy, which she said is “untouched nature in the most basic and reliable form of life we know, and we can learn a lot from it.” If channeled correctly, you can change yourself through music. 

Over the years, Sophia has transmitted these philosophies around the Midwest—and from Montana and New Mexico to Ohio and everywhere in between—like a traveling Johnny Cash. However, in recent years, she has taken up bird research in the spring and fall, making music more of a side gig. The once travelling troubadour has gone from 150 to 200 shows a year over dozens of states to focusing primarily on northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin and performing at local events like Guttenberg’s Art by the River and Elkader’s Music and Monarchs and Art in the Park. 

You can also catch Sophia singing for the band Big Blue Sky some Friday nights on the Maiden Voyage tour boat in Marquette. 

Of course, all of this was before COVID-19 ended all live performances for several months, a development that left Sophia “devastated” initially, until she discovered the wonders of Facebook livestream. 

“I had not considered such an avenue before, but now I am addicted,” Sophia said.

Part of the addiction comes from the ease of use and the fact that livestream can be done when the “mood for a song” hits. There is no booking, no agents, no door fee, no travel and no schedule. It’s musical freedom. 

In fact, Sophia said, “It allows my music to be captured in a raw and authentic way…and it’s been one of the best things to ever happen to me as an artist.”

The online gigs have allowed Sophia to continue to connect and provide that sense of relation, and she has been “blown away by the generosity” of the audiences. But if live gigs and Facebook aren’t your thing, you can still “find some love and music in the darkness of isolation” by simply downloading Sophia’s albums, Survival for the Loving and The Grass is Green on almost any musical platform. 

In the words of Sophia, “if you have music, you are never alone,” and her music is there. No matter your mood, Sophia has a song for you.