Sam Amidon is no stranger to these pages; I’ve written about a wedding song. I often turn to his beautiful Americana/folk music for some quieting down when I’m stuck in traffic or after a long night out. So when I heard about this new album I was like a cat on a mouse. I pounced! I See The Sign surprised me! It pounced right back. Yes, it’s classic Sam Amidon still. His fine as the finest sandpapery voice breathes right into your ear, lazily sometimes, very forcefully at other times. But there’s what sounds like electronic bee bops in this too! And really lush strings. That tickled my fancy a lot. The opening track, “How Come That Blood” features what must be painful finger plucking and interspersed, very modern sounds that offset Sam’s traditional vocals and lyrics. That song alone is reason to buy this record. The juxtaposition of styles is simply brilliant. The next time someone tells me how boring folk music is, this is the track I’ll play them.
The title track, “I See The Sign” gives Sam’s versatility yet another stretch and he’s proven capable again, of course. Smooth and off-kilter, this song slides all over the place as it tells us another horse story. The instrumentation manages to predominate by playing seemingly at random up against more solid and predictable vocals. It’s an interesting composition, full of tension, and one that I find myself listening to over and over. It’s the longest track on the album, I think because it simply needs all that time for the instrumentation to unfold.
I See The Sign is full of horses and brides and mountains and all sorts of emotional disclosures. These are songs that are obviously very meaningful and are sung that way. They’re often hushed and quiet and drift off in the middle a bit. Phrases repeat three and four times. At first glance I See the Sign is pretty dark, even depressing. Going over the record a second and third time reveals the depth of it, lyrically and in the well-placed instrumental flourishes. Thankfully, his cover of R. Kelly’s “Relief,” track 10, brings in some obvious light. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album. All Is Well was a step toward more production and generally a bigger feel. I See The Sign takes him yet another step in that direction without leaving anything that we love about Sam Amidon behind. This artist is evolving into much more than his label of “folk/Americana.” This record is the one that makes me quite certain of that. I always feel like he somehow exists in an alternate universe consecutively with this one. Somehow he has a view to a world of our past where big cities don’t exist and people cling to one another in small communities without modern conveniences. He maybe sings songs of or for those people, but really they’re for us. You just have to listen close to all the parts.
hear more songs on NPR’s World Cafe
Tour Dates
May 16 – Whale Watching Tour The National Theatre (Þjóðleikhúsið), Reykjavík, Iceland
May 17 – Powiekszenie, Warsaw, Poland
May 18 – w/Coldair Kisielice, Poznań, Poland
May 19 – Re, Kraków, Poland
May 20 – plus Leif Vollebekk South Hill, Bracknell, United Kingdom
May 21 – plus Leif Vollebekk Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, United Kingdom
May 22 – plus Leif Vollebekk Queen Charlotte Rooms, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
May 23 – plus Leif Vollebekk Puzzle Hall, Halifax / Sowerby Bridge, United Kingdom
May 24 – plus Leif Vollebekk The Golden Lion, Ripon, United Kingdom
May 26 – plus Leif Vollebekk Dulcimer, Manchester, United Kingdom
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