You Crazy Dreamers

Sam Corbin with Jen Sygit at Scene Metrospace - East Lansing, MI

It’s been a long time that I didn’t introduce any artist from Michigan : Sam Corbin is the one we’re going to listen tonight. Do you remember The Stranglers ? Hum… I’m a fan. From the unforgettable 96 tears with the ‘Too many tear drops for one heart to be crying… ‘ to ‘La Folie’ through beautiful melodies suchs as Northwind blowing, the unsane ‘Let Me introduce you to my Family’, the famous ‘Always the sun’ - well I’m not here, at least not today, to drive you back in the 80s Stranglers glorious… - and also my favorite ‘Golden Brown’.

And here’s the point. While I was crawling deeply the web, I took a long deep and peaceful pause as soon as I’ve been caught by this song’s title  ‘Golden Brown‘ : It was a month ago, on Sam Corbin’s myspace playlist the last track.  How to resist giving a try : who dare covering such a gem ? Sam’s version is far from the Barrel Organ sounds of the Stranglers… but with an amazing finger-picking style he released a prowess delivering a sweet acoustic version of this untouchable song !

I was a click-away from a superb album : Goodnight Candlelight. The opening banjo-driven ‘Twenty three’, the  ‘Masterpiece’ - which needs no other adjective - , ‘Dictator’ … Theses 3 intro songs are absolutely fantastic and so many albums will never reach this density…  Including the ‘Golden Brown’ cover, the 6 other tracks, of this 10 (hum everything is fine Mr Alzheimer ! count on the hidden track  ) songs collection are all deserving at least my 4 stars rating and an absolute 5 stars for the instrumental ‘Nothing to say’ !

Sam released his first full-length album “Goodnight Candlelight” in 2006, choosing a minimalist approach of mostly acoustic guitar and vocals. He recorded the album in his basement near Lansing, MI, with help from singer/songwriter Jen Sygit adding hints of Banjo, Uke, and vocal harmonies. In the fall of 2008 Sam will release his second full-length album, bringing to the lineup some of Michigan’s finest musicians! …
… In 2008 Sam teamed up with percussionist Billy Harrington. Playing on a single snare drum, Billy brought a whole new sound to the equation. Together, their songs travel from a soft whisper, to the rumbling drive of a freight train.

I didn’t get time to contact Sam in time (!!!), so I can’t confirm that the  track ‘Kalamazoo‘ will appear on his sophomore -haha  learning slowly… - album but if it’s a cover (shame on me for this lack of information) or a song of his own : it’s a ‘cracker’ !!! But no matter, Goodnight Candlelight could loop for a full year and more !

Artist : Sam Corbin
Label : none as usual
Where to buy : cdbaby.com as usual
More appetizers : @myspace …