Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers – Songs in the Night
I received a leaked copy of this album ages ago, and I was so intent on not leaking it any further that I’ve ended up completely missing the release date, and consequently only now writing a review I should have penned weeks ago – sorry!
It’s fair to say that I’ve been waiting for some time for this. One of my readers, Campfires & Battlefields, introduced us all to Samantha Crain over a year ago and since then she has become one of my favourite emerging artists on one of my favourite record labels – Ramseur in North Carolina. We interviewed her and guitarist Jacob at last year’s Pickathon Festival in Portland, and they were genuinely lovely people, so I’ve been looking forward to this album for ages now.
Miss Crain sings with a remarkable amount of world-weary pathos for someone only twenty-two years old, and that sense of tristesse permeates this album. It gives it a degree of gravitas and also, crucially, makes it incredibly emotionally engaging. The combination of beautifully penned lyrics and her lovely voice – rich yet vulnerable – convey an integrity and a sincerity few have matched, to my ears, for some years now.
In terms of the arrangements and how the music is actually assembled, I do have a couple of minor quibbles though. Apart from the vaguely punk-tinged Bullfight, this whole album is a basic guitar/bass/drums setup with pretty consistent fundamental rhythms throughout – slightly folky, slightly country. There is definitely a uniformity of sound from start to finish which I think could perhaps have done with some breaking up here and there. Something a bit rockier perhaps, a little fiddle or banjo maybe, or perhaps a fiercer number where they rock out a little – just something a little different. There are also a couple of tracks I would accuse of being a little stodgy, not least the title track which is just about my least favourite.
Not withstanding that small criticism, this album contains some of the best songs I’ve heard in fucking ages. Rising Sun, Let the Fever Out, Long Division, Devils in Boston… the list goes on. They have just the right pace to them, mix sadness with a kind of silent optimism, and a gentle base with a more biting instinct which producesa kind of defiance which is genuinely uplifting.
So whilst I don’t quite hear an album that I would call a Great Record, I definitely do hear a lot of truly great songs written by a genuinely talented performer and songwriter who I firmly believe has a talent which is really quite special. Very good work indeed.
Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers – Rising Sun
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Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers – Devils In Boston
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Kind of reminds me of Lisa Hannigan. Similar vocal style and sound.
Enjoy your upcoming holiday. My wife and I will travel to Italy in November. Planning on Rome and Florence. Where are you headed when you are there?
Agree regarding the uniformity of sound. I’ve listened to this one a couple of times over the last week or so and like it a lot, but feel like I’m still waiting for it to reveal itself to me.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing in the long run; but makes it unlike the EP, which sat me up straight away, and which I still think is brilliant.
Yep, agreed. The EP was a ‘by the balls, absolutely immediately’ job. This is weird, because a lot of the songs are truly stunning, but as a whole I am still waiting for the real connection as well.
Heard a lot of this live recently and it was rocked out quite a bit! The album versions are tamer to my ears. And even though the show I was at had serious sound issues, (the poor, dear lady suffered through) it was marvelous to see her performing this new stuff. And, the title track was very, very, very good live. Her band is wonderful, her drummer is mad as a wild boar, I can’t make sense of him at. all. but I love whatever the fuck he’s doing! And well the rest are just plain wonderful with her. So go hear her when you get the chance, you’ll not be disappointed in the least.
xoxo,
Tart – #1 fan, thanks to these pages
She’s playing Edinburgh in… 2010, apparently!
I adore it. It’s a creeper. It grows. I agree the EP was more urgent, more immediate. But I would also argue that, now we have come to live with the EP songs, the voice, the slouching country-soul, (+ I believe most commenting have seen her live), I think expectations were overly raised.
Songs like Let The Fever Out & Devils In Boston still make me stop what I’m doing & sing along. She’s a remarkable talent. I believe the album does that talent that justice.
Amen.