Skip to main content

Johanna Samuels Releases Debut Album as Free Download


Sounds Like: You visited an unpublicized traveling carnival only to hear an exquisite songbird accompanied by the strongman on calliope.


RIYL: The Softies, El Perro Del Mar, Jolie Holland, Serge Gainsbourg, The Organ


Response: Maybe it's the fog's slow ride through the Pacific Northwest that has me hankering for haunting melodies. Or maybe it's just winter in general. Or maybe it's a little bit of both--fitting since that's the name of Johanna Samuels's debut release. Not that the soft melodies of A Little Bit of Both are in any way dependent on the weather. Her tremolo vocals and "ooh la las" would linger in any season, and the musical stylings are just as suited to June evenings as January mornings.


There hasn't been much buzz about her yet, but Stelios Phili at Popsense has nothing but nice things to say about Samuels:

At the center of A Little of Bit of Both is the classic theme of love, but Johanna's take on it is refreshingly candid. "Prisoner's of the Parking Lot" is the most nostalgic track on the EP, recalling the bittersweet memories of a past love - "Back in high school/When the city held me down/We used to laugh, you'd spin me/like I was the only the only girl who wore your crown."

Download A Little of Both for free from PopSense.com

Comments

Anonymous said…
excellent find!! thank you :)

Popular posts from this blog

Okkervil River, Wellington, New Zealand :: Live Music Review

There are energetic drummers, and then there is Travis Nelson. Truly, he is 'Animal.' Okkervil River albums have so much personality, the songs themselves become characters: players, people in the guise of animals or gods (and who can tell the difference sometimes?). And like watching a melodrama, we are witness to emotions that heave and plummet with frightening force. The songs can be drunken youth: the rotund boots on their feet knocking wildly on every surface. Or they can be villainous and smart, full of smiles and wishing-you-well up to the second they thrust the dagger into your belly. Pitched, lust-crazed, calculated: that is one half of an Okkervil album. The other emotion is equally intense in its thick, slow agony: the eternity it takes to remove the knife, knowing you have it all to do over. And so it goes: soaring, drunk, angry, knife, stab, agony, pull-it-out-and-let's-do-it-again. At the San Fransisco Bathhouse in Wellington, New Zealand, on a crisp early a

Daft Punk :: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Somehow winter still has her claws in the Pacific Northwest. It's almost May, and we're forecast snow this coming weekend. Snow! (I'll spare you my usual tirade about what physically impossible acts may be performed on this particular part of the country, my own little corner of hell.) In any event, we were teased by 80 degrees over the past weekend, only to be thrust back into the 50s and below (with rain!) immediately after. Needless to say, it has not been happy times. I am on day three of a nonstop Neko Case marathon, and, while it is indeed comforting, Neko tends to be a little, dare we say, dark ? Sometimes you just need to take pause and make your own sunshine, or perhaps be steered to some on YouTube , as is certainly the case here. (Even though I firmly believe that YouTube is leading to the complete downfall of Western Civilization, and exposing the ugly underbelly of the American experience, I can sometimes forgive it. Times like this.) Back story? Dunno. Two fre

White Rabbits :: It's Frightening

Band :: White Rabbits Album :: It's Frightening Song :: They Done Wrong / We Done Wrong Sounds Like: The Midwest strikes back. RIYL: Spoon, The Walkmen, Tapes 'n Tapes A Few Words: White Rabbits (the band) is living in NYC, it's true. However, they are, by all accounts, from the Midwest. This is only a point worth mentioning because I am also from the Midwest, so we have a lot in common that way. Which is to say we have an inherent understanding of vast distances, wind, and non-existent public transport (unless you count Chicago). White Rabbits could also be that band you know you've heard of, but can't remember. For all their PR efforts it's amazing how easily they continue to slip under the proverbial radar (not sure if "radar" is an acronym when used in a cliche, but I'm guessing not). For example, they've been on NPR's "World Cafe" and on Letterman. Furthermore, they played Glastonbury in 2007 PLUS their new album, It'