Anyone with a name like Robin Proper-Sheppard deserves to be famous for something. This troubled Californian has, however, been waiting an awful long time for his day in the sun. His first band, the indie-metal God Machine, made two powerful albums before disintegrating over the death of a member, and his current outfit Sophie are household names only in their own households. It would be a shame if things stayed that way, since People Are Like Seasons is not far short of a masterpiece. Largely made up of achingly romantic ballads punctured by the occasional angry rock-out, its most obvious points of reference are Coldplay and Radiohead. With their epic arrangements and emotional honesty, however, Sophia have a kind of fatalistic integrity that's uniquely their own. Has Proper-Sheppard's time come at last? It would be nice to think so.
