Octo by Sophie Simonds: Album Review

by admin December 18, 2025

December 18, 2025

Sophie Simonds lays everything on the table with Octo, released on November 14, 2025, and it’s easily her most fearless and emotionally exposed work to date. Based in Galicia and recorded in her adopted home of A Coruña, the eight-track album was written in an intense six-week burst during the summer of 2024, right in the aftermath of a shattered seven-year relationship. Octo turns rupture into movement, charting a clear arc from painful recognition to renewed joy and, finally, new love. It’s genre-defying, deeply personal, and powered by Simonds’ refusal to soften the truth.

The record opens in a reflective haze, with the first track easing in on soft beats, shimmering guitar lines, and a gentle sense of restraint. Sophie’s deep, thick voice sings introspectively, grounded and calm, as faint choir echoes hover in the background. It feels like the moment when denial fades, and clarity begins to set in, not explosive, but unavoidable. From there, the album continues to unfold in chapters, including the defiant pivot of “I’ll Wean Myself Off Of You,” where the emotional tide finally turns, and independence takes hold.

Across the album, Simonds freely blends rock and soul with flashes of funk, ska, and bachata, never sticking to one lane for too long. The band she’s played with for years moves like muscle memory behind her, tight, responsive, and alive, giving the songs room to breathe and bite when needed. There’s joy here too, fleeting romances, warmth returning, laughter creeping back into the frame.

The closing track, “You Don’t Know Happiness – En + Es version,” lands as a stunning final statement. Slow, haunting guitar strums stretch patiently while Sophie’s voice is split in stereo, English in one ear, Spanish in the other, creating an intimate, physical closeness. A low, rumbling sound growls underneath, animalistic and raw, tensing up the tenderness. Written after meeting the man of her dreams, it reads like a letter sent forward rather than back, firm, radiant, and free.

With Octo, Sophie Simonds inhabits healing, built from survival, stubborn independence, and the courage to believe in happiness again. Listen to it on Spotify.