Sophie Auster on Milk for Ulcers: “This is the most intimate album of raw feeling I have ever made. While I was writing and recording it, my niece died, my brother died, and my father was diagnosed with cancer; I discovered I was pregnant, gave birth on the first day of 2024 to my son, Miles, and four months later, I watched my father die in the house where I grew up.” In the age of AI algorithms, packaged emotions, and the thirty-second attention span, Sophie Auster is an artist whose music offers her listeners another world. Although her songs tell the stories of her own losses, sadness and anger in the wake of events we can’t control are emotions people share and struggle to make sense of, despite the noise of a media culture that manufactures loneliness, not community. The daughter of two writers, Auster grew up in a household where artists of all kinds came and went, including working musicians. Sophie started singing when she was eight and debuted with her first album at sixteen. That album was picked up by Naive Records in France when she was eighteen and went on to garner critical praise across Europe, after which she started touring. From early on in her career, Auster caught the eye of fashion houses and has partnered with and performed at private events for Chanel, Dior, and Ferragamo, among others. In 2019, BMG took on her album Next Time for a publishing and record deal. The same year, her single Mexico was featured in the film The Jesus Rolls, directed by John Turturro. Auster is the recipient of awards at home and abroad, which include the grand prize in the John Lennon songwriting contest for her song Little Bird and Singer of the Year given by Cosmopolitan Spain. Auster reports that the album title, Milk for Ulcers, came to her after a dinner table conversation about antiquated remedies for various ailments: “Although milk may momentarily relieve ulcer pain, it can actually make it worse. It’s like putting butter on a burn.” The irony is obvious, but what to do for wounds and how to heal them is an unsolved riddle Auster refuses to answer with clichés. Milk for Ulcers, she says, “is about closing open wounds even if some of the treatments are only temporary.” The songs on this album reflect the complex emotions felt when a beloved person dies—defiance, rage, grief—but hope and joy too that have come with being a mother. The album’s final song Blue Team was written for Sophie’s father, Paul Auster. She worked at triple speed to finish it: “I am so glad he was able to hear it before he died.”

Media Acknowledgement for Sophie Auster: 

“Sophie Auster seems to be poised for stardom, with the vocal ability of a jazz singer, the knack of writing music with the edginess of rock, yet the catchiness of pop and the sensuality of soul, and the look of a trend-setting fashion model…the pop melodies and indelible hooks suggest she could cross over into massive chart success.” (Jay N. Miller/For The Patriot Ledger)

“Sophie Auster’s voice is perhaps the most immediately entrancing thing about her… Sophie exercised a strange, strong, lovely sense of emotional tact with her delivery… I’d keep an eye out for a more outlaw Sophie in the future.”  (Joshua Zoerner, Third Coast Review) 

“The Tijuana style brass, languid rhythms, and sultry atmospherics of the song will have you reaching for a cold, sweaty drink in attempt to beat all that sensual heat.” Black Book Magazine 

“Exceptionally gifted.” – MDR Kultur (GER)

“The voice, the look, the talent – this young woman doesn’t only have a big name but everything that matters.” – Kurier (AT)

“Intense music and strong lyrics.” – ORF (AT)

“Hypnotic croons meet smokey jazz, tenderly whispered ballads and love declarations to Mexico.” – Falter (AT

“..can’t help it but plunge directly into Auster’s world.. A very talented songwriter.” – Rolling Stone (GER)

Auster has made three LP's, her self titled debut released under Naive records, Dogs and Men, and Next Time (via BMG). She has released two EP’s, the self produced, “Red Weather” and the recent November 2019 release: “History Happens at Night” (via BMG). She is currently working on new material for a spring release.