Song, by Toad

Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers – The Confiscation

I’ve been waiting for this for a while, and it is bloody lovely.  Campfires & Battlefields, perhaps one of my oldest readers (in both senses), introduced me to Samantha Crain a few months ago, and I’ve been waiting for this to make an appearance ever since.

It’s quite an old album actually.  Samantha recorded it herself and made it available as a self-release a couple of years ago, but since she is now signed to Ramseur Records they thought a formal re-release would be a good thing.  Since then the band has stabilised a little and there are plenty of new songs raring to go, so hopefully it won’t be long before we are hearing even more from this particular neck of the Oaklahoma woods.

The record itself is an absolute beauty.  The music is basically a kind of gentle, bluesy rock ‘n’ roll, with a little bit of folk folded in there for good measure, but Samantha’s voice has a wonderfully graceful soul quality to it which is the absolute clincher for me.  I honestly could listen to her sing all day long.  She’s still finding her feet a little as a songwriter and evolving her sound as she does, but this sounds very mature.  Maybe it’s the voice, or maybe the slow, confident pace, but it does not sound like the first work of a fledgling musician.

I can’t wait for the new stuff, but until then this is five songs of true beauty, and there is plenty to keep us engaged while we wait.

Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers – Beloved, We Have Expired

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