The Sophs' honesty, flamingly intrusive thoughts, and genre-spreading caught the attention of Rough Trade founders Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee immediately. When Ramon sent a demo reel out to his favorite indies, he wasn't expecting any replies. But Travis and Lee were in his inbox the next day, asking if he'd hop on a call. Rough Trade heard the sort of creativity and variety—and "don't expect me to act pretty" sentiment—that could get the band a slot on nearly any stage. They heard a five-song seed of their debut record GOLDSTAR.

At any moment, The Sophs are entering pop-punk, blazing through funk, or talk-singing to the audience. Their enthusiasm for every iteration is evident, and Ramon's rich, full voice deftly nestles into endless categories, utterly chameleonic. "We never try to be as versatile as we end up being," Ramon said. GOLDSTAR has a Delta Blues-style song and a ZZ Top-inspired tune. To some degree, The Sophs see song creation like pop art: they're focused on the idea of reproducing something over and over again until it's meaningless.

The genre mix comes on the heels of sparks of inspiration: Ramon will bring keyboards player Sam Yuh a song and pull out a piece and they'll create something altogether new. Take the vaudevillian "THE DOG DIES IN THE END." In an aughts pop-punk croon, Ramon takes listeners through a laundry list of intrusive, cruel thoughts, cresting over Yuh's accordion. On sunny-rock "DEATH IN THE FAMILY," he's similarly disaffected, with the tongue-in-cheek refrain "I need a death in the family" seeking pity and attention that covers up any misdeeds.