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 Thief, Cass McCombs, Cassandra 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.
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[Thanks to Jaycee at Pitch Perfect PR.]