Sofar Sounds lets the music be heard

Like a pearl from an oyster, Sofar Sounds was born out of irritation.

“I was at a gig a number of years ago,” says Sofar Sounds co-founder Rafe Offer during a May “Lost Lecture.” “We were listening to the Friendly Fires, but we couldn’t hear the band very well. What happens at gigs? People talk — people were texting; you could hear the clang of the bar in the background.

“There was something wrong with this picture. The live music experience could be much, much better.”

So, along with Rocky Start and singer-songwriter Passion Ate Dave, Offer launched Sofar Sounds in London in March 2009, with the first concert taking place at Dave’s home. (“Sofar” is the abbrievated version of the concert series’ full name: Songs From a Room.)

Since that initial show, Sofar Sounds has proliferated across the globe, with Sofar chapters in more than 160 cities currently, thanks in part to the organization’s social-media savvy and its knack for singling out rising stars, like Leon Bridges and Hozier, before the mainstream catches on.

There’s no question Sofar Sounds, riding the cresting wave of popularity enjoyed by house concerts and other, unconventional yet intimate musical gatherings, is an idea whose time has come.

For those who don’t attend concerts on a regular basis, watching live music in 2015 can be a smorgasbord of aggravating behavior.

Never mind loud talking — it’s a rare concert that finds an audience watching in anything resembling hushed reverence — but audience members are also freely texting, playing games or striving to capture every last moment in video or photo form on their smartphones, oblivious to the music being made right in front of them.

Imagine the blissful sensation one feels, then, stepping into a Sofar Sounds concert.

The invite-only guest list is limited to fewerthan 100 people, the lineup is only revealed once you arrive at the venue — which can be anything from a private home to a car dealership — and talking and using smartphones are strongly discouraged during the actual performances.

A small army of volunteers keeps the whole enterprise running like clockwork — no one on the Sofar side is paid, and artists have a choice between accepting donations or one of Sofar’s slickly produced promotional clips as payment.

Although it sounds like a cliché, it’s really true: Sofar Sounds is all about the music.

Everyone’s listening; everyone’s invested in the moment.

During a recent Fort Worth Sofar event, around 75 people were jammed into the Fairmount Community Library to hear performances from two lesser-known acts (Longview soul-pop act Ellen Once Again and two members of Austin four-piece Taylor and the Wild Now) and one beloved local band (Telegraph Canyon, previewing songs from its then about-to-be-released You From Before).

Although the July afternoon was stiflingly hot, no one made a move to leave, having effectively won the live-music lottery — those interested in attending a Sofar show must join a RSVP list (there were 600 entries for the Fort Worth show), which is then whittled down to the lucky few, chosen at random to attend.

The effect was hypnotic — apart from the sound of ceiling fans sluggishly slicing through the air, nothing could be heard but the music being made — and it was as evident on the faces of those sandwiched into the cozy room, as it was the sentiments shared by the musicians.

“Thanks so much for the love — and for listening,” said Ellen Hinton, Ellen Once Again’s namesake, as she and her band finished playing.

Selling a new concept

Thanks to Joanna Jurgens, a British expat living in Lewisville and Sofar Sounds DFW’s regional coordinator, North Texas music fans have been able to enjoy moments like these for the last four years.

“One of the ways I stick to my roots and hold true to my home culture, even though I’m really a Texan now, is following the British music scene, the London music scene from where I was born,” Jurgens says. “So I’ve always liked a lot of the English indie artists [and] when they started doing Sofar Sounds on YouTube, that’s when I started seeing Sofar.”

Jurgens, a former research analyst for NBC and stay-at-home mother to two children, was already hosting house concerts for British bands touring through the area, and decided in 2011 to “put two and two together,” as she describes it, and began hosting Sofar-affiliated concerts, first in Dallas.

Partly by design, Sofar Sounds flew under the radar for the first year or so — I first became aware of Jurgens and the concert series when she invited me to a Sofar Sounds South by Southwest showcase in 2013; the Dallas Observer attended a 2012 event featuring the Angelus — but it wasn’t long before Jurgens and her small army of collaborators began attracting attention from local musicians in particular.

“From the beginning, Sofar wasn’t really heard of, so I had to go out and start asking local bands,” Jurgens says. “I didn’t know anybody; it was a jump for me to get involved. ... The first few shows I had to do a lot of convincing, because I had to pitch the entire concept of Sofar.”

For artists like Fort Worth-based singer-songwriter Rachel Gollay, who performed with her band at a Denton Sofar concert last fall, the concept was like something out of a dream.

“The setting was pretty ideal,” Gollay writes via email, “a lush backyard in a Denton neighborhood among kind and generous folks who were there to support and enjoy local music. Playing shows like that, it’s refreshing not having to compete with the usual obstacles playing in a bar or club.

“The setting is cultivated and intimate, and there’s a general sense that everyone is on the same page in terms of being present to really absorb the music and get to know artists that they may not have heard of prior.”

Keeping it small

To date, the DFW branch of Sofar Sounds has hosted 31 concerts in Dallas, Fort Worth and Denton, with plans to exponentially increase that number for each individual city, and, hopefully, designated teams of volunteers overseeing each city. (“It takes a lot of spreadsheets, and a lot of emails,” Jurgens says of coordinating area Sofar gigs.)

In the future, Jurgens would like to see three shows a month, at least, in each of the three cities, potentially exposing more than 300 random music lovers to what might be their new favorite band: “I had one girl tell me it was the best night of her life,” Jurgens recalls, with a laugh.

And if there are any nits to pick with the Sofar model, it’s the very thing setting Sofar apart from your average concert: the intimacy.

By design, Sofar Sounds is meant to be limited in size, which means RSVP’ing for an upcoming concert does not guarantee entry.

Jurgens says Sofar takes pains to be democratic about selecting its attendees and strives to preserve that which attracts both artists and audience members alike.

“I don’t like when the word ‘exclusive’ is used,” Jurgens says. “It’s not that we filter people out — we try to be fair and we look at who’s coming. The thing that makes Sofar Sofar is the intimacy. ... We had about 60 people at our very first show, [and] ever since then, we’ve had a wait list. We’ve had bigger venues offered, but that wouldn’t be Sofar anymore.”

So Sofar finds itself in the position of not only trying to grow awareness, but doing so while not forsaking that which makes it unique, but Jurgens is confident Sofar Sounds can become more visible and retain its grassroots charm.

In other words, Jurgens and those responsible for guarding the pearl that is Sofar Sounds — born from frustration with the concert experience — want nothing more than to see it passed on to other, equally enamored enthusiasts, a glittering reminder of everything live music can be.

“If just one person finds one band that they love at each show,” Jurgens says, “that they’re going to buy a ticket to see, [or] that they’re going to buy a CD and listen to it, as corny as it sounds, we’ve changed their lives.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2015 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Sofar Sounds lets the music be heard."