Berlin-based Costa Rican pianist, singer and composer Sofi Paez has released “Ocean” and announced her second album, Bodies of Water, due September 25, 2026 via OPIA Community. Written between Iceland and Berlin, the record uses water as a recurring framework for pieces centered on grief, resilience, reflection and renewal.

“Ocean” began while Paez was reading Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, with the scale and unpredictability of the ocean shaping the composition. The track opens with a solitary piano bassline, then gradually adds expressive strings before reaching a hopeful climax. Paez also connected the piece to a period of anger and frustration, turning those feelings toward perseverance and the possibility of finding light in difficult moments. “When I first heard the string arrangements played by real people it brought tears to my eyes,” she said. “Nothing can compare to that feeling of hearing the music come alive in the room.”

Across Bodies of Water, Paez combines flowing piano motifs and expressive string arrangements with ambient textures, voice and restrained electronic elements, building pieces that develop gradually over time. The album features collaborations with Lara Somogyi, Miguel Murrieta Vásquez and Evan Gildersleeve. “Ocean” follows the previously released “Waterfall” and “Pond,” with Somogyi collaborating on “Pond.” Together, the releases establish the album’s use of water as a way to approach different emotional experiences while leaving space for reflection rather than fixed conclusions.

Paez’s 2024 debut, Silent Stories, was released through OPIA Community. In December 2024, she took part in OPIA’s Conversations program at Berlin’s silent green Kulturquartier. On January 14, 2025, Paez returned to Costa Rica for a Jazz Café Escazú concert presenting Silent Stories in her home country. Later that year, Paez released the three-track Reykjavík Sessions (Live) with Davidsson, featuring the songs “Ripples,” “On Thin Air” and “Amsterdam.”

Listen to “Ocean” here.