Sam Amidon – Sam Amidon
Nonesuch – Out Now
The new self-titled album from the American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Amison is a shift from his 2017 album The Following Mountain. Amidon’s latest sees him take on the challenging task of reworking a series of traditional folk songs and is, by his own admission, the ‘fullest realization to date of his artistic vision’. And what a mesmeric, and haunting vision it is too. Characterised by songs which are not quite nu-folk, and not quite electronica, something harder to pin down but effortlessly alluring and charmingly addictive.
The album opens with a somewhat ghostly intro to what merges into a pleasantly surprisingly funky version of Maggie. It’s a confident, idiosyncratic introduction. The folk song Pretty Polly, a common Appalachian staple, was one of the first tunes Amidon ever learnt to play. His version here is sprightly, almost playful, which defies its dark, murderous, narrative.
Light Rain Blues, on the other hand, is an exquisitely evocative cover of the Taj Mahal classic, from his 1969 album De Ole Folks at Home. It’s a beautiful version. Sensitive to the original, but with an electronic twist, just enough to make it Amidon’s own.
Joining Amidon is his band; multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Chris Vatalaro and guitarist Bert Cools. Guest Ruth Goller provides acoustic bass, whilst Sam Gendel appears on sax. Amidon’s wife, British singer and musician, Beth Orton, joins Amidon to provides vocals on three songs.
Most of the tracks have a personal connection to Amidon; songs and tunes he grew up with. Amidon’s parents were singers in the Word of Mouth Chorus who released the 1979 album Rivers of Delight: American Folk Hymns from the Sacred Harp Tradition. As a result, personal echoes glide through the album. Time has made a change, for example, is a song his parents used to sing when he was a child. Here, Beth Orton joins him, providing some haunting, subtle background vocals to the track. Orton provides vocals on closer Sundown, with its repetitive lyrics and gentle guitar refrain. It’s a simple, light-hearted track, but entirely beguiling in it being so.
Sam Amidon feels a very personal album, with tracks that have a resonance to the artist’s past, yet the choice of traditional tracks ensures there are cultural ones for us all too. These tunes are shared with everyone and Amidon’s selection, sensitively curated, with an ear to the timelessness of the original words and tune, remaining true to their roots. Despite Amidon’s pleasing electronica experiments, it’s an oddly respectful approach: the delivery is both reverential and innovative at the same time.
And that’s what characterises the album’s sound. Amidon’s wistful vocals layering the songs with an ageless, melancholic mood. It’s a dreamy listen and despite its ‘folktronica’ vibe, a curiously ageless recording.
It’s telling when an album makes you want to hunt out an artist’s back catalogue. Despite being relatively familiar with some of Amidon’s earlier work, Sam Amidon makes me want to dig deeper. A handsome and entirely seductive album.