Samia’s third album was an astonishing step up, a vehicle to explore the idea of selfhood and how the world shapes us even without us realising. It would be easy for a weighty subject like that to drag a record down, but in Samia’s hands, it became warm and rich, each song an engrossing vignette.
Samia’s third album was an astonishing step up, a vehicle to explore the idea of selfhood and how the world shapes us even without us realising. It would be easy for a weighty subject like that to drag a record down, but in Samia’s hands, it became warm and rich, each song an engrossing vignette.
When we excise parts of ourselves to appeal to a friend or lover, is that process something like cattle mutilation, gory but “bloodless?” Samia reckons with this weighty concern on her third album, which is also her most varied, ambitious, and appealing release yet. After the pop-forward “Honey“, she broadened her sonic palette on “Bloodless”, which reaches from gentle folk to almost post-rock heaviness – and in the case of “Carousel,” both in the same track.
These are songs that stick with you, from their ear-worm melodies to their vivid lyrics, with references to Diet Dr. Pepper, a Nikon Coolpix camera, and a pair of Levi’s drawing you ever further into Samia’s world. She went viral on TikTok this year with her plaintive lyrics and delivery on “Pool,” the opening track of her 2020 debut, “The Baby”, and since then she’s only become more adept at evoking emotion.
The Fat Angel Sings 