Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers - Songs in the Night
Samantha Crain is remarkably and irritatingly young. Her new record, Songs in the Night, is American folk-pop, and it's phenomenal. This is where the irritation comes in. If you are much older than 22 and you haven't yet created something marvelous, get to work - this girl is running circles around you. Her croon is somewhere between Feist and Basia Bulat and more bouncy than ambient. The obvious single of Songs in the Night is the title track, with a catchy chorus and instrumentation that highlights Crain's knack for optimistic melody. "Cross our fingers/ towards the strong/ 'cause my baby's gonna be alright/ I got songs in the night for you" sings Crain, with a comforting sort of confidence and an optimism that is convincing in its simple delivery. But Crain is not limited only to cheerful pop tunes, and the convincing optimism is soon replaced by an anxiety of independence and the grimly suicidal Bananafish Revolution. "It's a perfect day for dying/ it's a perfect day for them to start crying" she belts out, prepared to contradict those who simply say "She'll be alright/ like she always is." The eerie beauty and melodic artistry with which Crain delivers these bleak words is what sets Songs in the Night apart.
Crain's debut full-length feels like the surprisingly gratifying fulfillment of a promise. The Confiscation EP, Crain's previous release, told stories and whet the appetite for more. Instead of stories, however, Songs in the Night tells feelings. Closer The Dam Song methaphorically demands catharsis, and it works beautifully as a final tombstone for the record: "I wish the dam would break/ 'least then there'd be some moving/ 'least then there'd be some destruction/ 'least then there'd be a famine, a coffin, a tear."
