To build something new, you have to let the old things go. That spirit of reinvention is essential to Chicago indie-folk project Free Range, the brainchild of Sofia Jensen (guitar, they/she) that came together at a time when the world seemed to be falling apart. Live and in the studio, Sofia is joined by collaborator and producer Jack Henry (drums, he/him), who helped Jensen fill out the skeletons of songs she composed in the solitude of quarantine. Bailey Minzenberger (bass, they/them) sat in with Jack and Sofia for a series of late-night sessions during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and before long, the three musicians had re-recorded an entire album’s worth of material. Free Range is a departure from Sofia’s previous work as a rock ‘n’ roll bandleader; they “wanted to turn the electric down, and the acoustic up” for this new project.
