Album Notes

Music for Swimming (2004) is the follow up to Sophia Travis’ first album release Music for Picnics (2000). The CD release party was held at the now defunct, historic, Pollard Elks Lodge, on the west side of Bloomington. Sophia’s show there epitomized her approach to making music—both recorded and live. The company of friends both old and new (including a nice orange tabby cat), an unexpected and intriguing environment, a smashing vintage bar, red lights, voila: a steamy June evening released Music for Swimming.

A long-time local music writer and great friend to the Bloomington, Indiana music scene, David Coonce, penned the following review:
Travis' second CD is a huge step up from her debut, which was pretty good. This one is revelatory. Travis' unique, beautiful vocals have a much more assured and confident air, and her songs have stepped up as well, acquiring a more muscular feel while retaining the winsome quality that makes her baroque pop so appealing. There are more '60s pop influences on this one, especially on the outstanding "They Find the Time," which features The Pieces' Vess Ruhtenberg on psychedelic wah wah guitar over Travis' neat Wurlitzer lines, while the Pieces' Devon Ashley drives the whole thing with an insistent drum beat.
Other highlights include the haunting "Every Time" and the accordion-flamenco fusion of the upbeat "To Think Big." Travis plays a variety of keyboards throughout the disc, and enlists Kenny Childers, Gretchen Holtz, Megan Weeder, Paul Mahern and others to carry out her impressive, understated compositions.