σοφία: Wisdom in the Wandering
- Sierra Bowman
- Aug 6
- 7 min read
Updated: Nov 20
By Grace Thompson
Sophia (σοφία) is the ancient Greek word for wisdom, often associated not just with intellect, but with lived experience, moral clarity, and spiritual insight. In Greek philosophy, it was considered a divine virtue, something to aspire to rather than possess. For this band, the name doesn’t feel ornamental; it feels like a quiet mission statement. Wisdom as a way of listening, of being open, of staying rooted. That intention is embedded in everything they do. Their mission isn’t to impress. It’s to connect. It moves like reflection, holds space like conversation, and invites you to feel something alongside them.
Check Out Sophia's FULL Set (recorded and mixed by Ben Beam)
I stepped into their world for the first time at the Royal American in Charleston after a friend insisted I had to see them live. It wasn’t a casual recommendation. It was one of those moments when someone’s so moved by a band that they feel compelled to share it, a quiet urgency. Like, you have to see this, just trust me. The room was humid and scattered with people mid-conversation, still settling in. Toward the back, I was absorbing the full scene while bracing against the thick July air. From there, I watched them walk onto the stage and meet all that disconnected energy head-on.
They met the moment and gradually shifted it. A five-piece from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Sophia brings a calm intensity that anchors everything around them. The band is made up of JMike (vocals/guitar), Jett (drums), Rocky (piano), Salem (guitar/lead), and Matt (bass). They lead with care but without hesitation. There was a spiritual force in the room; you could feel it, as their performance seemed to rise from somewhere deeper.
Q: How does your history with being a part of a church (spiritual music and ritual) impact how you perform and write?
A: This is a HUGE part of music for us all! Church, especially music in church, at its best, is to be very worshipful and community-driven! We all take our live shows incredibly seriously for those reasons. There’s nothing more powerful and impactful for us than being worshipful through our music.
You could tell they grew up in church by the way they carried themselves, by how much they loved doing this, by how present they were with each other and with us. The vocals reminded me of Jeff Buckley at times, not because of style, but because of how unafraid he was to let it stretch, untraditional, guided, like it came from beyond him. They were all in sync, moving together, and what came through felt like something bigger than the sum of its parts.
Their EPs, HEALING (2022) and WANDERING (2025), are curated like emotional chapters. HEALING opens with HVN, setting a beautiful tone. It begins stripped back on purpose, just a voice that feels like it belongs to one person alone in that moment. Then it unfolds, becoming fuller and heavier before releasing into something light and lifted. That vocal presence carries so much meaning; it propels the song forward. Memory follows, with lyrics that hit hard and instrumentation that carries both emotional magnitude and a cool, steady groove.
These aren’t just songs, they’re phases in someone’s life.
Glass, the first track on WANDERING, doesn’t just begin the EP, but it quietly sets the entire tone of it. I was messaging back and forth with the band when I mentioned that “Glass” reminded me of “Pure Imagination” from the original Willy Wonka film, and they told me that connection was intentional. Both songs lean on soft entry points and subtle harmonic shifts to create something immersive. Pure Imagination is full of extended and unexpected chords that give it a kind of off-center beauty. Glass doesn’t mimic that structure, but it speaks the same language. While Pure Imagination moves upward in wonder, Glass turns inward, luring you with feeling rather than fantasy. You don’t realize what it’s setting in motion until the EP takes you somewhere much heavier.
Q: What does the film Willy Wonka mean to you personally, and why did you choose to echo “Pure Imagination” in “Glass”? Was it the melody, the message, or a memory?
A (JMike): That’s such a crazy observation, I’m shocked anyone picked up on that! Before living together, Jett was staying with me at my mom’s apartment, and we watched the original Willy Wonka film. It’s just such a magical movie. I’ve always been captivated by Gene Wilder’s performance in it. I find that the Pure Imagination theme holds this perfect mix of beauty, melancholy, and a slight eeriness, and that’s the tone I wanted our recent project to start with.
WANDERING is the completion of a cycle, songs written in 2020, finally released in 2025. You can feel the time they spent with them. The themes, the pacing, the arrangement, they all feel lived in. The EP wanders, just like its title. There’s weight to it, but also movement. Listening to it feels like being let in on something, like following someone through a quiet process of change.
My personal favorite on the new EP is NIHILIST. Positioned at the heart of the track list, it feels like the unraveling point, where everything that's been building underneath finally comes undone. The second half gets wild: at 1:39, JMike’s voice stands alone before breaking into something raw and unfiltered. It’s not just heavy, it’s cathartic. The vocal tension builds and breaks in waves, like a cry unraveling into a scream, that cracks open into something jagged and raw. It’s a release. It lodges itself under your skin, echoing the chaos you didn’t know you’d been holding. Still, messy, and out of your control.
During the show, I stood near the sound booth, surrounded by members of the other bands on the bill. Some were tuning their instruments, others quietly tuning into the set. I kept my notebook open, trying to take it all in without missing what was happening in front of me. Next to me was their manager, John, holding up a phone, live-streaming from their Instagram. I turned to him and held up my notebook, where I’d messily written “Sophia♥” in the center of a page. He smiled. And told me to hold it up in his camera's view. He nodded, not just in recognition, but in encouragement. So I kept it held up; it became a message we were both trying to extend. At that moment, I knew that Sophia was more than just the five members on stage.
Q: Rather than just writing and performing, it seems like you guys are offering pieces of yourselves/ inviting others to join the message - Is this a conscious decision, to leave the doorway open?
A: Absolutely. If we’re not giving all of who we are to our music and the stage, the audience won’t believe it. I feel our generation can see through facades so easily, so we all take genuine connection incredibly seriously. And it starts with us as a family; if we’re not on the same page as brothers, it often feels forced. We always want people to feel that there’s something more for them, that there is more to this crazy life and world we live in. That’s everything to us; everyone deserves that reality.
After their set, I met them outside at one of the picnic tables. It started with JMike and John, but the rest of the band appeared gradually, until suddenly we were all sitting there. They didn’t try to convince me of anything; we just talked.
About growing up.
About the process.
About everything that matters.
Right before launching into Wander, the final track on their EP, there was a pause. Then came a voice from the stage, “Music unites us...be the person that someone can lean on, but also, don’t be scared to lean on a person.” It didn’t sound like something written down. It sounded like something remembered. The line between giving and receiving blurred; it felt like the whole room softened at once.
Q: You said on stage, “Don’t be scared to lean on a person.” What does this mean to you guys?
A: Especially as guys, from our own experience and our observations of all people, it can be very difficult to lay down your pride and desire to control. The desire to “be strong”. When we do that, there are times that it keeps us from owning up to our failures or struggles. We say that every show because a lot of times it’s easy to be the person someone can lean on, but truly leaning on someone else can be much harder to do. But we believe it is absolutely crucial to live a good life. And we desire to practice what we preach, so others can feel encouraged to do the same.
Their music doesn’t come from a place of ego; it comes from something much more grounded. You can tell this is what keeps them steady, what helps them understand themselves. But it’s not just for them. It’s made to be shared. Their songs leave space for you to find your meaning inside of them. They shine a light on the parts of you that might’ve gone quiet without you even realizing. That’s what makes it powerful: you can feel that they write from an honest place. There’s no posturing, no pretending. They’re not trying to be anything other than themselves.
That night didn’t feel like watching a band; it felt like being reminded of something I’d forgotten.
That music can be a mirror.
That feeling doesn’t belong to just one side of the stage.
That we’re not as separate as we think.
Interviews conducted by Grace Thompson for Enemy Magazine.
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