Sophie Hallberg set out to learn to be brave. Following her beginnings as part of Munich band Sweetlemon and the release of her debut EP in 2022, her debut album Toycars marks a new chapter as a solo artist. Hallberg's journey has taken her from Munich via Athens and Hydra to Vienna, where she has found a new musical home. These personal and geographical changes shape her music: Toycars tells of departure and arrival, estrangement and closeness, of gentle rebellion and the many in-between spaces of life. It's less about definitive answers than about those moments when something shifts and one's perspective changes. Musically, Hallberg expands her previous sound palette with a more direct and angular dimension. Guitar takes a more central role, while piano continues to form the harmonic foundation. Organic brass, deliberately reduced arrangements and reverb-drenched guitars create a tension between intimacy and vastness. Influences from artists like Aldous Harding, Fiona Apple and Leonard Cohen are perceptible, yet Hallberg retains her own signature. For the Toycars recordings, Hallberg worked with Xavier Plus (Pauls Jets, Fuzzman – drums), Ciara Gahleitner (Grosskind – bass), Alex Kranabetter (Voodoo Jürgens – trumpet) and producer Lukas Clement. Together they created an album that balances restraint and musical openness, giving the songs plenty of space. Toycars is both the starting point for Hallberg's work as a solo artist and an attempt to create her own musical world between intimacy, melancholy and departure. INSTAGRAM: @sophieehallberg
