Sotto James’ “Are We Running Out Of Time” comes from the worry of watching a parent grow older and wondering how much time is left to get things right. The song began while James was playing with an old synth that belonged to his father, after a father-son trip was cut short because his dad wasn’t feeling well. The moment brought back a question he had been carrying for years: had he made enough of the time they had together?
Their relationship has not always been easy, and James does not try to fit it into a familiar father-son story. There have been chances to connect, some taken and others perhaps wasted. His worry comes from knowing that time keeps passing even when two people have not figured out how to reach each other. Growing older makes those missed chances harder to ignore.
The question in the title has no simple answer. James can look back at the years they shared, but he cannot know how many more opportunities they will have. The song starts with a sound tied to his father and grows out of the fear that some things may stay unsaid. What he wants is more time, though more time alone cannot guarantee that they will find their way to each other.
For those who might not know you yet, how would you introduce yourself?
⁃ Hello, my name is Sotto. I write indie rock music that helps me decode whatever it is I’m feeling at the time, with the help of my friends. I am not playing a character. If you listen to my music you will know me. I have two cats.
⁃ If you had to bottle up your sound into just three words, which ones would you choose?
⁃ Need a hug?
Which artists (not only music-related) or moments have left the biggest mark on your music?
⁃ I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my big 4: Freddie Mercury, who was the first musician my dad put me onto, and the rockstar archetype in my mind. Chester Bennington, Chris Cornell, and Brandon Boyd, who were in my earbuds (with no exaggeration) constantly from the ages of 12-18, and who were my first songwriting influences. Finally, my biggest musical revelation, and the person who triggered my biggest shift and is still a huge source of influence in my writing the past decade or so, is Greg Dulli.
When you hit play on your songs, what kind of feeling takes over?
⁃ I have this bad habit of over-listening to my music before it’s out and then actively avoiding listening to it once it’s out. I think my favorite listens happen while I’m still working on a song. I usually enjoy the process so much more because, in my mind, while I am working on the songs they are still mine, whereas when they are out, they are the listeners’. I usually go through surges of excitement, realisations about subconscious meanings that end up being quite ironic. I very much do use my music to learn about myself and work through various emotions or thoughts, and looking back always feels like you gave birth to something that evolved and grew from within. Of the few times I do put on a song of mine, nostalgia is the biggest thing that happens. It isn’t hard to go back to who I was during that song’s creation process. Maybe that’s why I don’t do it as often.
If you could team up with anyone in the world, no limits, who would be that dream collaborator?
⁃ No limits eh? If I could somehow bypass the fact that he is no longer alive I would love to write with Leonard Cohen. Or just talk to him as a matter of fact. In my eyes, even before he left us, he was a living myth. “Listen To The Hummingbird”, the last song on his final record, always makes me cry. I think it’s one of the most beautiful goodbyes I’ve ever heard. Amongst the living, Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs and the Twilight Singers, is one of my greatest inspirers, and was a game changer in my songwriting journey when I first heard him. I always imagined him as a bonafide rock star.
What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?
⁃ Absolutely! For the past year or so I have been working on my first full length album. We just wrapped up mixing actually. The songs on it were written during somewhat of a creative frenzy the first few months of me deciding to put out music on my own, following six years of very choked creativity. With the record done, I’m looking to play out as much as I possibly can, and I am super psyched to do so!
Can you walk us through the story or emotion behind “Are We Running Out Of Time”?
⁃ I was messing around on an old synth that used to be my dad’s. I think I was actually trying to recreate that sound in Loathe’s “Is It Really You?” We had just made a last minute decision to cut a father-son trip short because dad wasn’t feeling too good. The past years I’ve been coming to terms with my folks growing older. I guess I’m a bit more easily worried whenever something comes up. For years, dad and I have tried to connect properly, but it’s sometimes been rocky, and it definitely doesn’t look like the “traditional” father son relationship. I do often wonder if I’ve been any good at using my time with my father fruitfully or if I’ve been wasteful of many of the opportunities we have had to connect so far. That’s pretty much the thought behind the song.
