Sofi Paez

Apart from her journey from Costa Ricas capital, San Jose, where she grew up, to Germanys capital, Berlin, where she now lives, the road that led SOFI PAEZ to SILENT STORIES culminates with a bewitching, enriching debut album which marks the pianist, singer and composers status as the first signing to award-winning composer and producer Ólafur ArnaldsOPIA Community. It also introduces a universe both crepuscular and luminous, whether shes pining for a lost friend on the heart-wrenching Por qué” or childhood innocence on the tumbling Waves, whether finding contentment in Amsterdam”’s yearning or comfort in the shadows of 1123.

PAEZs father introduced her to music, both pop and classical. I remember his Beethoven collection,she says. When he put on one of the symphonies I was completely blown away.Encouraged further by her mother, she began piano as well as ballet lessons, then moved to the Instituto Superior de Artes to focus on the former. Before long, she was winning awards, but three days after she graduated, she announced she was quitting. She began teaching the instrument instead, as well as studying design, and for a year didnt even touch her piano. She did, however, join renowned producer Askjells Discord server, and it was here she made a friend who introduced her to Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds and Hania Rani, provoking her to start composing.

PAEZ sent music to Askjell, and the Aurora and Sigrid producer was so impressed he invited her to join him in the studio, and having visited another online friend in Berlin on the way back from Norway she decided to relocate, moving to Germany in 2022. PAEZ had by now released a number of tracks and soon began chatting with Ólafur Arnalds on his own OPIA Discord server, but she was still shocked when she was invited to perform at OPIA Communitys intimate Berlin launch. Before she knew it, shed entered the studio with producer Miguel Murrieta Vásquez who, alongside modern classical luminaries Ben Lukas-Boysen and Lisa Morgenstern, provided occasional instrumental assistance. Then my grandma passed away,she recalls. It was fucking hard. But this grieving is an important part of the album.

PAEZ character is stamped throughout her debut, illuminating compositions which simultaneously allow her to express parts of herself that otherwise she might fear sharing. What once seemed incongruous provides the very essence of what makes her and her music so special: the balancing of conflicting emotional needs and the harmony in their reconciliation. It’s very difficult for me to open up,PAEZ concludes. I’m afraid of telling people too much. So these are the SILENT STORIES that I carry with me every day…

Listen to Sofi Paez

Live

  • 27 March, 2025

    Eindhoven

    Muziekgebouw

    Paez creates illuminating compositions which simultaneously allow her to express parts of herself that otherwise she might fear sharing.