Million Miles is the nom de plume of one Sophie Baudry who was raised in Paris, lives in London, and trained at the superlative Berklee College of Music. Baudry possesses a warm and enveloping voice ideally suited for soul music, with her main influences being Ray Charles and Bill Withers. Million Miles is set to release her debut EP Berry Hill on 3 November with the title referring to the area in Nashville where she recorded and wrote the four songs that will introduce her to the world.
“Ice Cream & Cigarettes” shows Million Miles’ serious vocal chops, paired with a minimalist arrangement that puts the voice front and center as good soul ballads do.
Baudry tells PopMatters that she’s “always been drawn to American soul, my records of Bill Withers and Carole King have been played over and over again till the grooves have been thinned out. The immersion in this music combined with the stories I needed to put down at that time inspired me on this EP. I wrote and recorded the whole record in Nashville, and for me, it’s given the tracks a beautiful grounding, it is, after all, a musical mecca. There are so many talented musicians, writers, and producers; it forces you to pick up your game in every way and pushed me to explore my sound and songwriting, I started to put my feelings on display in a very direct way.
“The video was directed by an amazing artist called Sequoia Ziff who I’ve been working with for a while now, we sat down one evening with a drink or two, and she just understood the world I was trying to create with my music and was has been able to translate that visually.”