Traveling peripatetically in his records almost as often as he moves to new locations, Sam Friend stumbles his way from genre to genre in the hope of achieving what might be called a quasi-emotional honky-tonk bliss. Like confessional rockers before him (think: Matthew Sweet or John McCauley), Sam Friend winds his songs up like a frustrated yo-yo, exploding into his tunes when his pent-up energy gets to be too wild.
A lot of his music has the feel of country-western saloon jams that have recently become acquainted with basement rock. Songs like ‘Bedlam’ and ‘High Hives’ from Sam’s new EP sampler ‘Spirit Mirrir’ push and shove against beer-soaked arrangements (including a handsomely dressed version of ‘On A Plain’) and surprising collaborators. Truly a trip worth taking.
For this artist who discovers some new trail to go down with each record, ‘Mirrir’ might be his biggest departure yet. Check it out on his bandcamp and see him when he plays next with his band The Freckles. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets) – This artist submitted music for review here