Samamidon All Is Well CD

Like Red House Painters or Nick Drake, Samamidon (his alias is a mashing together of his birth name) languorously glides to his notes, in no hurry to make his point. His first full-length, 2008's ALL IS WELL, mixes together elements of static-y delta blues, lushly produced modern folk pop, and lo-fi indie rock for a lovely and surreal experience. The music can be vigorous, as on the pirouetting, tribal-infused "Little Johnny Brown," or elegiac, as on the sleepy "Prodigal Son." And Samamidon's lilting, almost slurred voice makes the whole affair all the more mesmerizing.

2007 sophomore release from the American musician Sam Amidon. 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 and Stars Like Fleas. From the opening notes of the first track, 'Sugar Baby,' it's as clear that All Is Well is a different album from his previous offerings, and by the album centerpiece, the wistfully poignant 'Saro,' it's 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. 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 that is bound to warm the hearts of even the coldest gun-slinger. Bedroom Community.Rolling Stone (p.58) - "In an era of overheated Nick Drake comparisons, Amidon is eerily close to the real thing, singing in a fragile but certain tenor against the deep breath and soft sweep of Nico Muhly's orchestrations."
Uncut (p.87) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Amidon is not a straightforward revivalist. He keeps the sadness, but throws a mist of gentle orchestration over the songs."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Dressing his love-worn and cracking tenor in a sacred whisper of banjo, fiddle and post-Glass pulses, tracks such as 'Wild Bill Jones,' 'Little Johnny Brown,' and 'O Death' are transformed anew for this new age of dire consequence."