Due for release on 23 October via Go Slowly Records, Black Feathers is Sam Brookes first album in six years. It follows his critically acclaimed album Kairos, released back in 2014 when Sam was also our Artist of the Month. In his review for Folk Radio, Simon Holland concluded:
This is a stunning work on so many levels…What is exceptional is the young talent that Sam Brookes is proving to be.
We were not alone, Kairos was selected as a stand-out album by The Independent, and Brookes as a Breaking Act by Sunday Times Culture.
During those six years, a lot has happened. Sam Brookes lost his father and had a long-term relationship unravel, before losing a close friend. He relocated to the relative calm of Bristol to process and take some time out before those experiences were slowly poured into the songs of Black Feathers, an album Brookes describes as “a mediation on grief.”
“There aren’t many times in your life when you choose to lose your best friend,” says Brookes of the events that inspired Falling, the second single (and our Song of the Day) from Black Feathers. “Everything changes but the world stays the same.” Sam wrote Falling as he struggled with the knowledge that he could no longer be friends with his ex-partner of many years – it is an ode to those head-over-heart decisions that cut the deepest. In Falling, folk meets jazz in a twisting, turning affair and as the song (and the singer) fall through a series of descending key changes Brookes laments the pieces of himself he has left behind.
When we interviewed Brookes about his last album Kairos, he spoke of his parents’ influence: “My dad was the guitarist, playing fingerstyle and very influenced by the 60’s folk revivalists like Davy Graham and Bert Jansch. My mum wasn’t really into any contemporary music as such, but she was a really good singer. I remember seeing her perform when I was a kid and the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. It’s a powerful memory and something that’s still important to me because when I perform now, it’s that place that I’m trying to get to.”
Here, he seems to have reached that point. He has poured his heart and soul into the music and he can glide through those octaves like no one else. Musically, and combining all those elements mentioned, this sounds like a giant leap forward, there’s a confidence here that shines through and fully justifies the high-profile guests he chose to come on board. They include jazz pianist Neil Cowley, acclaimed fiddle player Sam Sweeney, as well as Ethan Johns who makes a rare appearance behind the drum kit. Sam began writing Black Feathers back in 2017, with the album coming fully to life when producer Dom Monks, who also mixed the record, got involved. It is the first album to be recorded at the Bert Jansch Studio in the Somerset countryside. It was mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios, Chiswick.
For us, it’s one of the most highly anticipated album releases this year.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the album’s heartrendingly honest exploration of loss and heartbreak, and its undeniable undercurrent of turmoil, Black Feathers is a thing of exquisite beauty. There are glimmers of hope and light peeking through the darkness, a sense that the record takes the listener through the very heart of the pain but then out the other side, to a place of acceptance. As Brookes came to understand: “Grief visits you from time to time. It hurts and instinctively you want to fight it, but if you learn to hold it lightly then you can carry it with you, not as a burden but as a guide.”
Falling is released on 7th August 2020.
Black Feathers, is released 23rd October 2020 on Go Slowly Records.
Black Feathers is released on 23rd October 2020 via Go Slowly Records. It will be available on 12 inch vinyl, CD and digitally.
Catch Sam Brookes live in the UK and Ireland in November-December 2020:
Sam Brookes Tour Dates:
4th November: Prince Albert Inn, Stroud (UK)
6th November: Old Bakery Studios, Truro (UK)
7th November: Jam Jar, Bristol (UK)
8th November: Kingskerswell Parish Church, Newton Abbot (UK)
10th November: Green Door Store, Brighton (UK)
11th November: Dorchester Arts Centre, Dorchester (UK)
12th November: Heartbreakers, Southampton (UK)
13th November: Bush Hall, London (UK)
14th November: Bedford Esquires (Room 2), Bedford (UK)
15th November: OPEN, Norwich (UK)
17th November: Kitchen Garden Café, Birmingham (UK)
18th November: The Greystones, Sheffield (UK)
19th November: Settle Victoria Hall, Settle (UK)
20th November: SWG3 Poetry Club, Glasgow (UK)
23rd November: The Old Bridge Inn, Aviemore (UK)
25th November: Cluny 2 , Newcastle (UK)
26th November: The Met, Bury (UK)
27th November: The Duncairn, Belfast (UK)
28th November: Whelan’s, Dublin (Ireland)
29th November: Roisin, Dublin (Ireland)
1st December: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (Music Room), Liverpool (UK)
2nd December: Henry Tudor House, Shrewsbury (UK)
3rd December: The Gate, Cardiff (UK)
4th December: Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth (UK)
5th December: The Globe at Hay Institute of Art & Ideas, Hay-on-Wye (UK)
6th December: Exeter Phoenix, Exeter (UK)
Ticker links via www.sambrookes.com
Photo Credit: Sarah Cresswell