“I Have a Reputation for Making a Lot of Noise”: Introducing Native Music’s Sophie Faricy
Meet Sophie Faricy, Native Music’s newest executive producer / music supervisor and resident blower of its metaphorical trumpet. She knows how to use her voice, and not just as a vocalist, spending her career amplifying the music and artists she’s most excited about – and picking up several wild stories over that time.
Moved so deeply that even a well-scored cat food advert could bring her to tears, Sophie’s passion for music and sound has never wavered, weeping as a child during orchestra warm ups and now repeatedly pausing the TV to grill her children on the sound design.
It was a chance encounter with a producer in her late teens that set her on the path to a career in the industry. While juggling multiple jobs, her fierce work ethic then took her from session vocalist to supervisor, with a stop along the way in PR for Alicia Keys and Rick Astley.
Today, Sophie spills the secrets of an eclectic life, pondering the value of silence, her most memorable melodies, her wildest story, and the one thing she wishes her clients knew, punctuated by her signature quick wit and enthusiasm.
LBB> Let’s start from the very beginning - when did you first discover that you wanted to get into music?
Sophie Faricy> Music used to (and still does) evoke such extreme emotion in me when I was little, that I couldn’t quite grasp the notion of being inside it. I tried though and got to the heady heights of Grade 2 cello and drums but sacked them off. It was too important a thing to be even slightly shit at in my (naïve) eyes, for any amount of time.
I used to watch my dad’s school musicals from the age of six and bury my face in the neck of my school uniform when the orchestra warmed up - not because they were awful, but because I would immediately be flooded with emotion and bawl my eyes out. I still cry at the beginning of any gig, or anything whatsoever, even a cat food advert. The sheer power of music gets me every time.
In my late teens, a producer told me my “speaking voice was nice” (hilarious) and asked me to sing a sample on a track. Eternally skint, I realised I could make some cash as a session vocalist, recording jingles and jumping in and out of various live tours as backing or upfront for artists and producers from Bonobo to Rihanna.
LBB> That’s some serious passion. What form did your career path take from there?
Sophie> I was a vocalist in bands and waitressed my tits off. Without any qualifications, the only thing I had was my fiercely strong work ethic, my passion for music and my gob.
I got work experience at Ninja Tune and Big Dada while holding down four jobs, day and night, seven days a week. The label manager at Big Dada bagged me my first full-time music job as a publicist for Rocket Science and I made my way up from there, working on campaigns for mainstream artists from Alicia Keys, Rick Astley and Billy Ocean to So Solid Crew.
My life was wild (my stories are wilder). I was still touring every other weekend when an old friend offered me a calmer job at what was then Boosey & Hawkes Production Music. After initially turning my nose up at library music, I gave it a shot. Using my passion and skills for upselling music, I fell in love with it. Being in such a small company meant I was still close to all aspects of the music, and lo and behold, I discovered I absolutely loved sync.
Above: Sophie with Billy Ocean
LBB> Our curiosity is piqued. What’s your wildest story (that you’re able to share with us)?
Sophie> By wild, I mean wildly obscure. I can’t really name check anyone without getting in trouble, but I guess one of the most ridiculous stories of my younger days – I often question whether it was all a hideous anxiety dream – is when I found myself in the wings of a Roots Manuva show when I was an intern at Big Dada/Ninja Tune.
I realised a mic was next to me and decided (after raiding the rider) that he ‘needed’ backing vocals halfway through his set and swaggered on singing, bold as brass before my boss shot on stage and pulled me off. Rodney was of course a total gent afterwards (as was my boss, unbelievably) but I was and still am, utterly mortified.
This can still sit me bolt upright in the middle of the night, but I can almost bring myself to laugh about it 18 years later. Almost. God knows how I carried on working after that stunt.
Above: Sophie on stage
LBB> You’ve just started your new role as executive producer / music supervisor at Native Music (congratulations!) - what draws you to the company and how will you be making your mark there?
Sophie> I met managing director and music supervisor Dan Neale around 15 years ago and followed his journey closely through to the conception of Native Music. He stood out to me - I’d seek him out at events and breathe a sigh of relief when his super clear, concise briefs came through. We all did! He has an amazing reputation for being calm, steadfast and kind and the team he’s grown at Native has followed suit.
The Native team are renowned for their consistent creativity, multiple awards quietly accumulated, their warmth and ease of doing business. These qualities really resonate with me, except for the quiet part. I seem to have a bit of a reputation for making a lot of noise (and eating out of date food), I can’t help but get excited about the amount of racket I’m going to make about them. I’ve carved a career out of shouting about music I’m passionate about and making people take stock; this is no different.
LBB> Now you’ll be working in the commercial realm, what’s one thing you wish for your future clients to understand about your role / music in advertising?
Sophie> I don’t want to sound like a douche, but I guess I’d like clients to know that if they let me and the Native crew throw our hat in the ring with their music search, they can expect the loveliest experience humanly possible. Between us all at Native, our vast musical knowledge, meticulous eye for detail and absolute lack of ego, will guarantee that we all have a nice time from start to finish. Music should never be seen as a ballache, it should be the fun part and it’s my mission to make sure it stays that way.
LBB> Going back to your visceral response to music - what’s been the most memorable use of it for you in either film, TV, or advertising? What emotions did it evoke when you first heard it?
Sophie> I would say anything that the supercrew of directors Megaforce seem to touch stops me in my tracks. Particularly the Burberry floating campaign with Ryan Lotts at the helm of the composition, that dreamy violin soundscape with the ethereal vocals and the witchcraft of the MPC is something to behold.
On the total flipside (and very telling of my life), the mass murder scene in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ to 'Come A Little Bit Closer' by Jay & The Americans made me spontaneously start applauding in the cinema, whilst simultaneously trying to explain the meaning of ‘juxtaposition’ via loud whispering, to the absolute horror of my kids.
The haunting metronomic style choral bursts of Martin Phipps’ ‘Fairytale’ score in series four of ‘The Crown’, that drifts in and out throughout the episode, was a work of art. Interspersed amidst all the other corkers that film supervision queen Sarah Bridge placed in the series.
LBB> On a similar note, who are your musical heroes?
Sophie> It varies day to day! I would say for my hero weekend, I’d kick the day off with a bit of Hermanos Gutierrez, Three Sacred Souls and Jordan Rakei. Then I’d get myself up and dressed to Lady Wray, Yaya Bey, Sampa the Great. Lunch with Pale Jay, Gotts Street Park and CARRTOONS, cocktails with Maribou State, Little Simz and Sault and then out-out with Nia Archives, Bicep and Jamie XX. I’d ultimately wind up at a karaoke bar in Chinatown destroying some Erasure and Wham!, then whack on a bit of ‘90s RnB and jungle in the headphones for the windows-down cab home.
LBB> As someone that lives and breathes music, what are your views on silence, in both work and life? Do you need every moment to be filled with sound, or does empty space play its own important role?
Sophie> I have ADHD and ASD, so I’ve had an intense love/hate relationship with sound all my life. On the one hand, I have a need for life to be muted and wear noise cancelling headphones with nothing playing or ear plugs (even at home) but then on the other, I will always have music playing in every room of the house. Smallest sounds can be physically unbearable such as the bite of an apple or someone tapping a pen, but then at a festival or gig, I was often that idiot found hugging a speaker, attempting to absorb and experience every wave of sound/bassline through my entire body.
When it comes to work, I can feel where silence or room within a piece of music is needed to let the picture ‘breathe’ and have its moment. I mean it’s no great revelation is it, but silence can be just as powerful as a 100-piece orchestra.
LBB> Finally, venturing outside of the realm of music and sound - what inspires you the most?
Sophie> Is this where I’m supposed to say my kids?! I would say my mates and my family of course. And garden centres. I have so many talented friends from all walks of life, inside and out of the industry, that keep me inspired and driven across work and life, they all amaze me every single day and I thank the universe for each one of them. The kids are alright too.
