Customer Reviews
Solid and Innovative Effort.
by
Nick Drum
In an era where music is reduced to simple formulas--guitar bass drums, verse chorus verse chorus--this record offers shows the listener that there is more than one way to write a pop song. This album is filled with strong melodies and innovative instrumentation. It is at its best when the artist takes the most risks and its weakest on the more conventional songs.
The opening piano driven number, Symphony From the Sky, excels on its soaring vocals and surprisingly numerous layered harmonies. The rest of the album generally follows suit. We Are All the Same and The Sun Still Rises nicely display the artist's ability to abandon the traditional electric guitar or the pop melange of sounds in favor of violins and cellos. In doing so, he delivers a unique sound that is still within mainstream. We've Been Caught Dancing is equally unusual as the artist somehow achieves an intimate pop song without compromising its epic proportions. This One Has Flown, one of the quieter tracks, demonstrates Samm's enviable falsetto range.
As with any cd, some tracks are stronger than others. I found the more conventional songs to fall short. However, nothing on this album is more innovative than Nocturne from Another Man's Rain--in it, Samm throws all mainstream pop conventionalism to the wind in order to capture an otherworldly sound that is truly rare in today's musical landscape. Solid effort!
Production. Songwriting. Singing...The Samm Way
by
Parker Logan
We live in an era where anyone with a flip video can record them selves, post it on facebook and consider one self a "recording artist." In the sea of well intentioned, and marginal talents, rises a cool breeze of pure musical delight. Yes, Samm can sing, and play, and write... but where he shines, and it comes through in this album is the structure of his productions. Pure distinction.
Symphony From The Sky, and We Are All The Same shimmer in the values that remind one of the names, Brian Wilson, Phil Spector, George Martin. Play the songs up next to them and put it on shuffle to understand a statement like that.
This album is just a taste of what a tour, and some road time is going to bring from this artist to watch.
Sure naysayer, throw the darts. But like all visionaries, (think Bob Dylan touring with The Band) the music is what will carry Samm and us, to the sky.
Inventive. Promising.
by
The OpenDoerr
Wondering if the apparent trolls that glibly classified this music as 'Christian' even listened to the album. (What is 'Christian music' even? A style? What other music genre is classified by lyrical content? That doesn't even make sense.) I digress. This music is certainly pop in the sense that it is accesible at first listen, but the writing and production have rewarding layers that let you peel them back with each listen to find new little gems in each song.
I appreciate the deviation of predictable form and structure that other reviewers have mentioned. I also totally dig the use of orchestral adn world music textures and tones in the songs (from sitar to timpani, it's in there). Cool. Somebody else mentioned Brian Wilson influence in certain vocal sections. I have to agree. And that is a supreme compliment. Anyone who can evoke that comparison is on the right track.
The standout track for me is probably Nocture from Another Man's Rain. I'm still exploring this one. Unique and other-worldly, but I'm pretty sure there's a more specific meaning being communicated in it as well. Then again, maybe not, but at the very least it is a great sound.
As with almost any album there are tracks that don't resonate with me as much as others, but on the whole this effort is granite solid. I'm hoping he puts more stuff out in the future and encourages other artists to break out of the usual hum drum.
