Sam Evian releases title track from upcoming album – “Time to Melt.”

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Musician and producer Sam Evian releases “Time to Melt,” the title track from his forthcoming album, out October 29th on Fat Possum, alongside an accompanying video. Carried by its noodly guitar line and Sam’s honeyed vocals, “Time to Melt” emanates a fun darkness with an almost alien jazz feel. The song originally came together when Spencer Tweedy was interviewing Sam for Mirror Sound, a book that delves into the people and processes behind self-recorded music. He asked to see an example of Sam’s writing process, and after firing up a drum machine, Sam wrote the first bars of “Time to Melt.” Of the song, Sam explains “If you’re familiar with tarot, I think of it as pulling the death card in a positive way. It’s like facing the idea of death, which I think everyone thought about a lot this past year, maybe more than usual collectively.”

“It’s time to melt it’s what we do // If anything will comfort me // It’s knowing that we’ll be free”

The peculiar “Time to Melt” video, directed by John TerEick and filmed in the woods surrounding Sam’s home, elevates the song’s otherworldly vibe and offers a peek into Sam’s charm. Sam comments on the video: “I met a lonely alien in the woods and they taught me a jig. As the night went on they convinced me to try huffing some special kind of bug spray, which opened a wormhole vortex to another dimension.”

Watch Sam Evian’s Video for “Time to Melt”

Time to Melt is a glowing set of soulfully psychedelic pop gems and a testimonial to the life and wisdom to be found when you give yourself the mercy of space. Following a brief decampment to upstate New York to create his last album, You, Forever, Sam realized he could no longer resist the urge to escape the anxious city life. So he and his partner split from New York City to build their refuge and Sam’s studio, Flying Cloud Recordings, in the Catskills. That reflective, relaxing environment shaped Time to Melt, an album of sounds so pleasant and compelling that you put it on and follow the slipstream. There are songs of celebrations, like “Easy to Love,” and tracks that reckon with the weight of our time, even when it sounds largely weightless, like “Knock Knock.”

Next month, Sam will kick off his North American tour with a full band of  Brian Betancourt (bass), Michael Coleman (keys), Sean Mullins (drums), and Liam Kazar (guitar, synths), who will also open each show. Tickets are on sale now

Watch the “Easy To Love” Video

Watch the “Knock Knock” Video

Watch “Easy To Love” Performance

Watch “Knock Knock” Performance

Sam Evian Tour Dates
Fri. Oct. 29 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom *
Sat. Oct. 30 – Woodstock, NY @ The Colony *
Wed. Nov. 3 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
Thu. Nov. 4 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair *
Fri. Nov. 5 – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Saint *
Sat. Nov. 6 – Washington, DC @ DC9 *
Wed. Nov. 10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas *
Thu. Nov. 11 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts *
Fri. Nov. 12 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre *
Sat. Nov. 13 – Portland, ME @ Space Gallery *
Fri. Nov. 19 – Amagansett, NY @ Stephen Talkhouse
Sat. Nov. 20 – Troy, NY @ The Hangar *

* = with Liam Kazar

Keep your mind open.

[It’s time to subscribe.]

[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Sam Evian announces new album, “Time to Melt,” and brings us a new single – “Knock Knock.”

Photo by Josh Goleman

Today, Sam Evian announces his new album, Time to Melt, out October 29th on Fat Possum, and presents a new single/video, “Knock Knock.” Additionally, he announces a fall 2021 Northeast tour. Following a brief decampment to upstate New York to create his last album, You, Forever, Sam realized he could no longer resist the urge to escape the anxious city life. He and his partner, Hannah Cohen, split, building their refuge and Sam’s studio, Flying Cloud Recordings, in the quiet of a Catskills town. That reflective, relaxing environment inexorably shaped Time to Melt, a glowing set of soulfully psychedelic pop gems and a testimonial to the life and wisdom to be found when you give yourself the mercy of space.

During the last decade, Sam has become a preeminent collaborator, producing and engineering records for the likes of Big ThiefCass McCombsCassandra Jenkins and Widowspeak. In their new home, he and Hannah hosted bands like house guests as he helmed their sessions. The coronavirus, though, clamped down on those interactions, largely sealing the couple from their longtime scene. So Sam tried something new: He sorted through more than 60 instrumental demos he’d recorded in the last two years and began shaping the most enticing of them into songs with help from Hannah and long-distance friends—Spencer Tweedy, Chris Bear, Jon Natchez (The War On Drugs), even strangers who sent him voice memos via Instagram. He took the unexpected time at home to dig deeper than ever before into his world of sounds and ideas, calmly considering our moment of prevailing chaos through a lens of newfound distance.

Time to Melt reckons with the weight of our time, even when it sounds largely weightless. New single “Knock Knock” taps Sam’s memories of race-and-class violence in the small-town South where he was raised and his subsequent reckoning with our crumbling American façade. The track, finished in June of 2020 as protests unfolded across the country, is a tribute to the perseverance of the vulnerable, who find community and joy in spite of the way centuries of miscreants try to deny it. “’Knock Knock’ is a song of commiseration,” says Sam. “It’s a conversation with my sibling, and really anyone else with a conscience. We talk a lot about the small town in Eastern North Carolina where we grew up, and why we left. Growing up we saw a lot of racism, violence, poverty, disparity, ignorance…all of it not so hidden under a veil of southern hospitality and dogmatic beliefs. A year later after George Floyd’s murder, I hope we can keep the conversation going. The veil is lifted for all to see. Knock knock – who’s there? A broken America.”

The song’s cinematic, light-hearted video, created by Josh Goleman and filmed in the almost completely abandoned town of Meltsville, New York, brings the Time To Melt album art to life.

Watch Sam Evian’s “Knock Knock” Video

Time to Melt is an album of sounds so pleasant and compelling that you put it on and follow the slipstream. There are songs of celebration on Time to Melt, paeans to whatever joy it is we find in life or love, such as the previously released “Easy to Love,” an ode to finding a new paradise outside of the city where you can plant love and literally watch it bloom. The album’s intoxicating rhythms and timbral webs are as settling, even seductive as an evening glass of wine. But whatever your day’s end ritual may be, it isn’t some idle exercise. It’s a place to unpack the pain and wonder, the suffering and promise of the moment, to reflect on where you have been and what might come next. In 40 striking minutes, Time to Melt sorts through a year of a life spent in rage and hope, lockdown and love.

The Sam Evian band will tour the Northeast this fall in support of Time to Melt. Sam (guitar, vocals) will be joined by Brian Betancourt (bass), Michael Coleman (keys), Sean Mullins (drums), and Liam Kazar (guitar, synths). Tickets are on sale this Friday, August 13th at 10am EST. 
Watch the “Easy To Love” Video

Watch Sam Evan Perform “Easy To Love”

Pre-order Time to Melt

Time to Melt Tracklist
1. Freezee Pops
2. Dream Free (feat. Hannah Cohen)
3. Time To Melt
4. Knock Knock
5. Arnolds Place
6. Sunshine
7. Never Know
8. Lonely Days
9. Easy To Love
10. 999 Free
11. Around It Goes

Sam Evian Tour Dates
Fri. Oct. 29 – Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom
Sat. Oct. 30 – Woodstock, NY @ The Colony
Wed. Nov. 3 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Thu. Nov. 4 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
Fri. Nov. 5 – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Saint
Sat. Nov. 6 – Washington, DC @ DC9
Wed. Nov. 10 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas
Thu. Nov. 11 – Holyoke, MA @ Gateway City Arts
Fri. Nov. 12 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre
Sat. Nov. 13 – Portland, ME @ Space Gallery
Fri. Nov. 19 – Amagansett, NY @ Stephen Talkhouse
Sat. Nov. 20 – Troy, NY @ The Hangar

Keep your mind open.

[Is it time to subscribe? Sure it is!]

[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]