Sophie Coran and Michael Cumming are likely Philadelphia’s most prominent yet entirely unassuming couple in our music scene. While she plays across the city’s stages fronting her soul and R&B band, he produces and masters artists at Rittenhouse Soundworks and Treacle Mine Recording studios. If you’ve never met them, you’re certainly familiar with their work. Michael is behind everyone from Trap Rabbit to Will Brown to Laura Lizcano to Upholstery to lylyly to (obviously) Sophie Coran. The list really does go on from there. From my experience with this series, I hadn’t come across an established couple in the industry who successfully works together yet. Sophie and Michael proved after just a single conversation that such a daunting task - dating within the scene - is actually entirely possible. That being said, I couldn’t spot a single ego in the room the entire time we talked, though both of them are obviously important artists in their own right. I don’t think I’ve ever met two more genuinely meant-for-each-other people than these two. This interview was a process to put together from start to finish, but I came away from it with an underlying sense of hope, because what these two have is special. I have a feeling you’ll agree.

Let’s just take this all the way back to the beginning. Let’s go past-to-present.

Sophie: We have an interesting history. A colorful history. We’ve been together for six, six and a half years. Or was it just our seventh anniversary… February 22nd, I think we decided - technically - 2014. And now marriage. So our new anniversary is our wedding anniversary, which is November 10th, 2016. So we've been wedded for about three years now.

Emily: How did you two meet?

Michael: That’s a good question.

Emily: It’s arguably the easiest one. [he had no idea what I’d gotten him into if he was already sweating]

Sophie: I was traveling around Europe after college, and I was spending some time in different countries. And then I spent a lot more time in the rest of the UK because you could, I guess, at that time, but now they’ve changed everything.

Michael: They really used to let anyone stay.

Sophie: But you could only stay in mainland Europe or wherever for 90 days and then move to the UK. So I was getting ready to leave because I was kind of feeling like, “what am I doing?" I'd been traveling for a few months by myself. And then we met on OkCupid and we matched because we both liked Fiona Apple. But we didn’t even have a big match. It wasn’t like an 80% compatibility, I think it was like around 40%. We started talking about music because at the time Michael was building his first studio and I was writing songs. And our first date was actually a rave.

Emily: Hold on. You just said you went to a rave on a first date? [now I’m the one who’s sweating]

Michael: It’s called Whirl-Y-Gig, which is just like this crazy hippie situation. It's been going on for maybe five years, and it moves around a bunch. But it was in one of those railway arches in London Bridge.

Sophie: I was really excited for the date, and Michael was really excited, but at the time neither of us was really looking for anything serious. But I thought he was cute, he thought I was cute. And we both looked exactly like our pictures because I'm sure that you know that catfishing is a thing. I had been on dates before where the person you saw online isn’t the person who shows up, so I was so happy it was him.

Michael: Yeah, three feet tall, 600 pounds…

Sophie: Michael. I was early, which I never am, so I went to Sainsbury’s and got a drink. It was like vodka with a bunch of different fruits or something.

Michael: Those have like eight different fruits that have no business being put together.

Sophie: I was so nervous. And then I met Michael, and I was like, “Okay, this is okay. Let's do it.” And then we just, like, waited in line. For a while.

Michael: I mean if that isn’t a British experience for you.

Sophie: And so that was our first date. It was really crazy. And then the rest is truly history because I think I was still pretending that I was going to leave the UK. Like “Michael, it''s really nice to meet you.” But we ended up still hanging out and we spent time at his studio and started recording music. That was my first E.P., which ultimately became the first thing that we did together.

Michael: It’s 2015 at that point.

Sophie: Wait - I forgot the huge dramatic part.

Michael: …which one? [there are many, so I can’t totally fault him]

Emily: Oh my god, typical guy.

Sophie: Before I met Michael, I wanted to figure out a way to stay in the UK because I really believed that London was where I should be, musically. I wanted to be in that industry. And so I needed a student visa because otherwise it's really hard to live there as an American. So I applied for this songwriting competition at this music program -

Michael: That I later found out was like five minutes from my place.

Sophie: And it was some random program, but it was really expensive, so I entered this competition where the prize was free admission for one year. But in the interim we’d started dating and I had to move back to the US and it was so dramatic. We didn’t know what we were going to do. But then months later I’d found out that I won that competition and I could move back to the UK for another year. That’s when we really started working on my music together.

Michael: We redid a bunch of older stuff, too.

Sophie: Then after that year the visa did expire, so then we were long distance again, and then we decided to get married. After exploring all of our options, Michael moved here in 2016 - this is a very long answer to your question - but I still felt like I really wanted to be in the UK. So we got married the day after Trump got elected. Our wedding, by the way, was like a lunch. Like us “proclaiming we were married” in front of our best friends.

Michael: And then we went to Chinatown. There was lots of Peking duck. [100% works for me]

Sophie: So it was a crazy time. And I wasn’t sure where I wanted to live at that point, whether here or the UK would be any less insane. But we love Philly.

Emily: Wow. I never, ever would have guessed that this is your story.

Sophie: Yeah, here we are. And I'm from Philly and I never thought that I would end up back in Philly after all of this. I really didn't want to move back., but I'm really happy that I'm here now. Musically, it's such a great place to be for where I am and what we’re doing. My band is here, everyone’s here.

Emily: I love how connected your specific circle is. Your band has ties to so many other groups and I’ve seen that Michael works with tons of different artists. Logan and Arjun play with you, each other, they session for like - everybody. Philly’s so tight.

Sophie: It's such a great community and I think that's really unique to Philly. Lots of other cities have great music industries but aren't as supportive.

Michael: London’s the total opposite. The scene there is kinda like, “fuck everyone else,” kind of thing. It’s competitive. Here, people are very “look, my friend’s doing well and that’s sick.”

Emily: How’d you break into London’s scene, then?

Michael: Slowly. Just hanging around studios and making the right friends. Being a nuisance.

Emily: But I feel like that’s a hugely necessary part of it - a certain level of annoyance. I feel incredibly annoying sometimes just continuing to show up to gigs and put my name in the right people’s mouths until eventually it pays off. But that’s a part of networking.

Michael: That’s just the music industry in a nutshell.

Emily: Okay I have to move on to a different question. I don’t know how you’ll top the rave story but let’s keep going.

If you could go on a first date knowing that there wouldn’t be a second, where would you go?

Michael: Like, knowing what we know now about each other?

Emily: No, you just met and it’s a one-time-only deal. Don’t worry - you’re not ghosting each other, it’s just a fantasized experience.

Sophie: I’d want to go on a trip, but - would you want to go on a trip after meeting me once?

Michael: Maybe! Where to?

Sophie: I haven’t been to Spain. Should we go to Spain?

Michael: Let’s go to Spain. [I can’t express enough how much I wish it were just this easy]

Sophie: In a train though, okay?

Michael: Okay.

Sophie: I'm obsessed with trains and the whole yesteryear kind of vibe. I’ve done a lot of traveling on trains and there's just such a romantic feeling about it. I watched those movies “Before Sunrise” and it's this three-part series about Tunisia and my best friend was telling me about them before I went on my Euro trip as a solo traveler. These two teenagers, basically, meet on a random train in Europe, and they have one night together and it's magical and they fall in love. They make plans to meet each other again six months later, no matter what. So I feel like our date would involve something to do with the travel.

Can you tell me one of the funniest stories you have with each other?

Sophie: There was one visit…

Michael: Oh oh oh… yes. [he said this in such a way that it looked like he was having a war flashback]

Sophie: In retrospect it was definitely funny, but at the time it wasn’t at all.

Michael: I’d come over to Philly to visit because we were long distance at the time.

Sophie: It was your birthday and Thanksgiving and we were in South Philly because I’d lived there at the time.

Michael: And something that happens in South Philly is -

Sophie: This is my nightmare. [I’m actually on the edge of my seat both during this interview and recapping it in writing. This is my nightmare]

Michael: Bed bugs. It’s terrifying. We discovered that you had them because apparently they liked me, and I woke up with all these little bites all over me. We had to take everything out of your house and put it in bags.

Sophie: Michael texted me this entire thing while I was at work, I wasn’t even there.

Michael: I was also starting to feel really sick, and it actually was getting kind of bad so I went to urgent care. And it turned out that not only did I have bed bug bites, but I also had: shingles.

Emily: …I’m honestly at a loss for words. You’ve just described my nightmare three times over.

Sophie: It was basically the worst visit ever. We had the most intense day of cleaning and we even had a pest control come and help us.

Emily: Yeah you have to clean everything.

Michael: So they came and they started going for your keyboard and you got nervous. And he was like, “no, it’s fine it’s fine. I treat instruments for the Philadelphia Orchestra.” And we’re standing there like, “No, no please don’t.” So he put all these things into the keyboard and stuffed it back in its case.

Sophie: It was so traumatic. A few days later, we were allowed to take everything out after being fumigated. I opened the keyboard and the keys are all super damaged.

Michael: They looked melted.

Sophie: We were sitting there and I tried to play it, and I was pressing keys and nothing was happening.

Michael: Yeah, but you hadn’t plugged it in.

Looking back, what’s something cringey that you both did to impress each other before you were sure the other person was going to stick around?

Sophie: OH. Michael would do this thing where he’d always try to get into the fact that he was from London, and that he grew up there. And there, people refer to their zip codes a lot. NW2, his was NW2. But that’s also a South Philly thing, I feel like we do that here, too.

Michael: There was this big song when I was growing up. I even forget what it’s called, but it was this guy who calls out all the north zip codes and he was like “NW1, NW3, NW10,” blah blah blah, and he’d get to NW2 and it was cool.

Sophie: Michael would always do that. There was also this one time we were on a date, and we were going on a walk and I was so confident like, “Oh I know where we are,” and I got us totally lost.

Michael: Pulling out Google Maps all sly on the side.

Sophie: Oh god, there is another thing. Learn a lesson from me and never do this. This is so bad. About a month into us dating, my friend and I decided to go to Brighton for the day for my birthday. We were drinking and I called him all, “So you know it’s my birthday,” because I just kinda wanted to rile him up. And I literally asked, “So what are we?” It was just bad. And the next morning my friend and I were so hungover and sick and I called Michael back and I was so apologetic.

Emily: There are easily worse things. “What are we?” is tame.

Sophie: One of Michael’s best qualities is that he’s so nonjudgmental, so calm. He was so understanding and said everything was fine. It’s funny - a day after I met him I knew there was something there. And we actually talk about this a lot, but he reminds me a lot of a cloud. I have this fascination with clouds - Michael’s parents even gave me this cloud necklace. He just has the same ethereal, calm quality to him.

Michael: And then it rains. [you’ve probably noticed that he doesn’t speak much, but when he does]

Sophie: I think of myself in the same way sometimes. Like - a little spacey maybe.

Michael: That’s another thing, about that walk where you got us lost. We were in Philly and you were like, “I think we have to go this way. I’m pretty sure.” And I was like “Okay but all the buildings are this way.”

Sophie: I really am the worst with directions.

Do you have any music that reminds you of each other?

Michael: Fiona Apple.

Sophie: For me it’s De La Soul that reminds me of Michael. And Chance the Rapper. The way he backs up his computer - he does it so there’s nothing actually on it, everything’s on a drive and it’s affected the way his iTunes works. So we somehow just end up listening to De La Soul all the time.

Michael: We only had two records on the computer. De La Soul and “Acid Rap” because of how shit gets saved.

Sophie: Because Michael’s a genius and knows so much music - and we work together - if I don’t know something that someone mentions, I feel like he knows it and then by proxy I know it, too. He’s like “oh yeah, that’s that.” And I’m like, “yeah, that’s that. Obviously.”

What’s your favorite album to tell people to impress them, and what’s your real guilty pleasure favorite?

Michael: I would probably say, “The Wall” or something like that.

Sophie: I’d probably pick a classical record just so I could be like, “are you familiar with this or that’s fifth movement? How do you feel about Schoenberg?”

Emily: Fan of his later stuff, obviously….

Sophie: Guilty pleasures, though. “Frank” by Amy Winehouse, “Tidal” by Fiona Apple.

Michael: “The Score” by The Fugees, hands down. 100% my real favorite.

Emily: Nothing of Sophie’s? Okay.

Michael: Ah, shit.

Emily: A complete setup, it’s fine.

Michael: I have a super guilty pleasure for the Counting Crowes.

Emily: Thank god. [I do too]

Sophie: Mac Miller, too. Oh - John Brion produced Fiona Apple’s records and he also produced Mac Miller’s.

Michael: It’s like the same distorted guitar tone and that signature spacey sound.

Emily: Does your work have a signature sound do you think?

Michael: I’ve done a lot of reggae and stuff, so I think heavy bass is pretty evident.

Do you know what’s in each other’s bags at any given moment?

Sophie: Okay. His wallet…

Michael: Hopefully.

Sophie: A thing of Vaseline that he calls phase-a-line, keys. Super, super simple guy.

Michael: You always have a book. And you always have your sunglasses. Rain or shine, you always have them. A pencil case most of the time, a water bottle. It’s always in the bag.

Emily: The bag?

Sophie: I’ve had this, like, utility bag forever. I’m in the market for one of those flat black leather bags.

Michael: But no matter what. We’ll be running to the store, which could be around the corner, and you’ll be fully packing the bag when we’ll be back in like ten minutes. Oh and you always have stickers. [she flashed some new Sophie Coran sticks which are adorable]

Okay, last one. If you’d met on some trashy reality dating show and had to get married within the same day, would it work out?

Emily: I’m angling this question like the show “Love Is Blind.” I’m desperately hoping that you’ve seen it. Couples talk through a wall, get engaged, and married all within like, a half hour. [don’t fact check me]

Michael: I guess…

Sophie: Probably.

Emily: Comforting…

Sophie: We had a really good first impression.

Michael: Yeah [but like, a very drawn out yeeeeah] I think so. Yes.

So.

I think the most important observation I came away with about Sophie and Michael is the way they both respect the differences within each other’s overlapping crafts. Talking to them felt like talking to friends I’ve known for years with the way they wrap you up in their stories and fully place you right in the middle of some of their most intimate memories. That same feeling of closeness comes across in Sophie’s music as well, and I was lucky enough to sit down with them on the night they celebrated the release of her latest single, “Circles.” It’s a song about cyclical love and it felt incredibly topical discussing the back and forth nature of their relationship until they planted their roots here in Philly.

I’m thrilled to see what they work on together next. Michael’s projects always find a way into my inbox, and Sophie has another single planned for release in May. Until then, you can stream “Circles” below.

The Date Where Sophie Coran and Michael Cumming Actually Did Meet at a London Rave