Samamidon - All Is Well

And so, Valgeir Sigurðsson's Bedroom Community has welcomed another
member to the fold with open arms and a steaming Hot Toddy. After the
phenomenal success of their last three releases, both artistically and
commercially, the stakes were high for Sam Amidon as he boarded a
plane for Reykjavík, Iceland . Away from his modest home-recording setup
and thrown head-first into Sigurðsson's state-of-the-art Greenhouse
Studios, Sam was left to concentrate on his intuitive interpretations of ageold
folk-songs, a skill on which he proves himself to be a unique talent,
drawing simultaneously on his experiences growing up a child of folk
musicians in Vermont, and his more recent work in New York with the
experimental indie-rock bands Doveman & Stars Like Fleas.
From the opening notes of the first track, 'Sugar Baby', it's as clear as an
Alabama night that All is Well is a different album to his previous offerings,
and by the album centerpiece, the wistfully poignant 'Saro', its obvious
that this album is very special indeed. With horns erupting and dissipating
around the listener, Amidon's trademark delivery is perfectly offset by the
tenderly plucked notes of his six-string. Nico Muhly's orchestration is not
the only addition to Amidon's barrel of sounds. A dizzying amalgam of
trombone, Eyvind Kang's ghostly viola, and processed percussion convert
a children's singing game from the Georgia Sea Islands into the ominous
ambiguity of 'Little Johnny Brown'. The distinctive bass of Ben Frost is
evident on the pensive 'Fall on My Knees', while subtle layers of
electronics add an intrinsically modern aspect to the proceedings. Couple
this with Sigurðsson's production wizardry and you'll realize that
despite links to the Appalachian folk music of the past, All Is Well is an
album that could only exist in the present.
As the album closes with its title-track, Sam leaves the listener with a
feeling of resolution parallel to that of a keen reader thumbing the last
page of a favorite novel. He sings of death's spindly fingers finding him, a
prospect he handles with no trepidation – for he has Muhly's flourishing
orchestrations to give him courage and form a stable bed for his tender
lyricisms. In the length of an album, Amidon has struggled through
gunfights, paternal tensions, religious guilt and the lonely life of a nomad,
but he leaves us with the message that 'all is well'; a defining statement
on an album that, despite its shadowy underbelly, is bound to warm the
hearts of even the of coldest moonshine-swilling gun-slingers and bring
strength to every yellowbelly in town...
- Everybody loves a murder ballad!
- “The most interesting folk album of 2007” – Stylus Magazine on
Amidon’s previous effort.
- A triumphant return by Sam Amidon after the Plug
Research/Birdwar released But This Chicken Proved
Falsehearted, this time produced by Valgeir Sigurðsson.
- Includes contributions from Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Eyvind Kang
and Aaron Siegel.

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