Socha recreates his acclaimed live performances with guitar and harmonica with no overdubs.
~Courtesy DL Media Music
Under the SoHot Music imprint, View from Inside is the first solo album by Italian-born, New York-based guitarist and harmonica player Noé Socha. Due for release on October 30, 2026, the album features 14 tracks recorded live over two days, at The Loft NYC, in an almost entirely acoustic setting. Socha recreated his acclaimed live performances of playing guitar and harmonica, simultaneously, with electrifying, extended improvisations and no overdubs.
On View from Inside, Socha draws from blues, jazz, folk, pop and Americana, combining his eight originals with impressionistic takes on classics like Henry Mancini’s “Moon River,” the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” Chick Corea’s “Spain,” Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep for Me” and John Mayer’s “Gravity.” Throughout, Socha glides fearlessly and organically between genres, playing in odd meters and improvising at length, As Mayer posted on his TikTok while listening to Socha’s version of “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,” [Noe] has “Insane dynamics,” and “plays by his own set of rules.”
For Socha, who has been legally blind since shortly after birth (he retains limited vision in his right eye), View from Inside also speaks to the way he experiences his surroundings. He can see bright colors, and thinks and imagines in color. When describing a summer day, he talks about greenery, the warmth of the sun, a breeze, sounds and smells. “It’s all part of the picture,” he says. “I guess that many people believe that a blind person wouldn’t have a concept of visuals,” Socha says. “But you certainly can imagine. You make up the rest with the other senses, and you can have your own vision of what that is.”
Socha traces much of his approach to music to Bob Dylan, as well as blues and jazz pioneers including Lightnin’ Hopkins, Wes Montgomery and Django Reinhardt. Hopkins appealed to him for the freedom with which he stretched blues forms, while Dylan showed him how differently the same song could be played from one performance to another. “Any version you listen to of his songs, it’s going to be unique,” Socha says. “That is just something that I aspire to do with my music.”
View from Inside is a departure from Socha’s previous three recorded projects: his Likho Duo work with bassist Cliff Schmitt, the New York Gremmies’ tribute to California surf rock and 2024’s Simplebluesboy, which featured Tony Braunagel, Sean Hurley, Jay Bellerose, Lenny Castro, Jon Cleary and Adam Levy.
“With View from Inside, I wanted to explore all the different musical directions I’ve taken, while being more expansive and having more freedom in my playing,” Socha says. Often told that his solo music inspires listeners’ imaginations, he hopes listeners will experience the album’s connection to his inner visual world along with the music, as he does. “I’m trying to transform the music and my inner vision into something that’s more tangible and can be shared with audiences.”
He extended his multi-sensory goals by working with a creative team that embraced the ideas of using vibrant and vivid imagery, jazz aesthetics, expressive compositions, and artwork inspired by the songs.
