A CONVERSATION WITH SAMSON RADICI
Samson and I met up on a warm & cloudless winter’s day. We were planning on going for lunch at an Italian bakery, but it was closed completely devoid of even a note on the roller door explaining themselves. This was disappointing, since I was very much looking forward to indulging in one of these huge cinnamon donuts that my Dad used to buy me every Thursday after school… It's a good thing Samsons company can bring you back from even the most disappointing of European pastry let-downs.
I was also lucky enough to listen to his new album - SOLACE - which was released for everyones pleasure last week. This debut album feels like a hot bowl of soup on a bitter winter's day; balmy comfort and nourishment, yet still welding the ability to scald you, all at the same time.
I recommend diving into this when you feel as if you need a deep breath. When you need to be embraced by tender music as you get lyrically rafted down the river of melancholy and pensiveness.
An album self described as ‘love and unlove songs’, this is the perfect ~~ minute antidote to humanizing our increasingly cold growing world.
This is a transcription of a conversation between friends over lunch.
M: Ok, first a little bit of a warm up.
S: Yeah?
M: How long did this take you to write, and how was it recorded? Did you self produce? What there anyfunding.
S: No, there was no funding. I started recording the music like late last year, but ive only sort of written these songs over a year. I probably wrote about like maybe 30 - 40 songs, and recorded about 30 of them, then cut them down to this 12 that i liked. I thought “ok, 12 songs. 12 songs is an album. Thats cute.”
M: Why these 12? Out of 40? What about these 12?
S: Well i feel like these were more thematic… all the other songs i was like “argh maybe i can release these later?” or i mean, if i dont like them, i could just delete them. But I wanted to find a clear theme between all of the songs. And I have done.
M: I like that. What would you label the theme as?
S: I think the theme is probably just, all the songs are about the ladies in my life. The ladies that i have loved and one of those ladies actually, the middle song, uh, is al interlude its about my nana, my nana is a very speial lady. But uh, she passed away. The rest of the songs are just about,I dont know! Ladies that ive had a crush on, Ladies that i love, all that stuff, yeah.
M: If you were describing your album to a 6 year old, what words would you use?
S: I think mostly, its fun, country, rock-y music, but im not sure a 6 year old would maybe understand some of the darker folky songs… Ill let the 6 year old decide.
M: and a 96 year old?
S: I think id describe it as some spew that a younger man has recently put together, and um, something that shed have to turn up her hearing aid for. I dont know why i thought the 96 year old was a woman I feel like only women live to 96.
M: Thats statistically true..
S: Yeah!
M: ok, if you could go back to any point in time, where would you go and why?
S: The first thing that pops into my head, is maybe being a late teenager, just being abit silly with it. Like, being in an environment where im just surrounding by my mates, and being sily and being goofy, and no one telling me off. I dont like being told off. Ha ha.
M: Do you think youre being told off now in your life?
S: Well, now im being conscious of it. I feel like if your young friends also want to get in trouble, you just want to do the silliest things - not hurting anyone of corse, or pushing anyones boundaries, but since being idk say 20 and above, there is always someone in your life that has to ground you. Which i appreciate but, i do also appreciat that not being the case.
M: What ways do you think youre still silly then?
S: Probably sometims in my music. Especially gigging, like when I gig with the band or just by myself, there is just a bit of silliness.
M: ok. It takes a lot of discipline to create a body of work like this, while studying and working, especially as a solo artist… do you have a ‘creative process’ that helps you do the work you need to do?
S: I think mostly music for me, is like , especially writing music, it’s a bit more like catharsis, if i feel stressed or worried I’ll just like hit my guitar as hard as possible, and ill be like “ok what does that sound like?” And I’ll just play around and do different things. And if there is something that I like the sound of, I'll just start to sing over the top of it and see where it goes. A lot of the time what I say is something thats happening - a current process - and im like, ok, let me just get my pen and paper, and i just start writing. So it’s my own therapy, my breathing practice all that stuff.
M: You said your album is a collection of love / unlove songs - Would you like to elaborate more on this? What exactly is an UNLOVE song?
S: well i feel like all the ladies that Ive ever been with, i HAVE loved in a certain way. But there is also a certain amount of bitterness, that i feel for some of the people that I’ve been with. Some people who have used me, or not made me feel very good, and i think there is a little bit of sarcasm in some of the music, and i feel like THATS an unlove song. A bit of a stab song.
M: Which do you prefer writing then
S: Um i feel like i'm either heavily inspired by being moved by someone, like in a positive way or a negative way. So I think I like to write songs. If I feel really angry, that comes out really nice, and I'm like “ OOHh, ok cool.” But, if I'm feeling TOO good, but not inspired, then not much comes out of me.
M: Do you prefer the end product of a stab song or love song?
S: I feel like I like the sarcasm a little bit better. Yeah. Unlove songs are fun. In fact, haha, I played this gig as a place not that long ago, and the lady that worked there , uh, was a bit of a bitch. And um, i had this song that I was writing but I didn’t have any lyrics for, so I just started coming up with stuff, and it was a direct stab at her. But I made it just vague enough that maybe she wouldn’t know it was at her.
M: Do you remember any of those lyrics?
S: Ah I pretty much just said that she was on drugs and all this nasty stuff. Hahah. But, I didnt mean any of it, she wasn’t that bad.
M: You mentioned your influences are Elliot Smith, The Shins, Radiohead and Andy Shauf - Where did your love for these artists come from, and in what ways did they inspire you to follow their lead?
S: I feel like I said Radiohead, because people often say that thats what I sound like - but im not really that into Radiohead. I mean i could name 6 songs off the top of my head, but its not like I sit in my room and listen to Radiohead. I feel like their songs, well the songs that I like the most are more obscure Radiohead songs - i don’t know if thats very reflective.. I dont know.. They’re not my vibe! Don’t write that! Haha!
M: Well, what about Elliot Smith.. I thought your album was very reminiscent of Elliot Smith - in a good way- you could tell that those bands you named were all heavily inspired.
S: I think that I just like his song writing, especially the album Either/or. He plays a lot of acoustic guitar, the way he swings the guitar, he has a very gentle easy melody over the music. I also tried to steal his chorusy vocal sound. But I uh, I couldn’t really do it. It came out a bit different.
M: Well, running off of this - these are all pretty, shall we say, miserable artists -
S: hahaha
M: - I think people would be pretty quick to label you a happy guy, from your experience is there a correlation between a cheery exterior while something deeper runs beneath the surface
S: *continues to laugh*
M: - in what ways does your art help you express it, i mean you mentioned that it was a bit cathartic. Can you be a happy guy while making sad music, is that how we keep sane?
S: Absolutely I feel like im a very expressive person naturally - and I feel like most of the time I am cheery. I feel like I spent a lot of time finding coping strategies, I had counsilling very very young, and psychological input, and I think I have just used music as a way to really feel myself and express myself. Even when im playing with the band, I feel really myself. Being able to do that in front of of people, an audience, feels very fun and silly. But I feel like with my own songwriting, its not necessarily, “I AM SAD HERE IS A SAD SONG”, its like, just a genre! A genre comes after I record some music. What was the other part of the question?!
M: The cheery exterior!
S: Like the sad clown?
M: well in order to make good art, must you suffer a little bit for it?
S: Um, well.. I don't necessarily know if my music is..
M: Sad boy music?
S: Well it doesnt really sound like something someone suffered for! Hahaha
M: Well, did you use you know, anger or sadness or bitterness, and you know, do you think those things help you make ‘better art’ versus if you just went through the world in a “I had a good day today here is a song! “ You just end up with a Jack Johnson dont you..
S: Hahah. Yes.
M: Which is fine!
S; He is a tortured artist so..
M: hahaha.
S: Every time I feel like a song is too regurgitative, i feel like it’s not personal enough. So if there is something that sounds like something, I immediately throw it away. Not to say that my music DOESN’T sound like other things - but it still sounds like me.
M: What do you think ‘you’ are then?
S: My music is very personal, it sounds like me, and people who know me will understand the music, because it does sound like me. But I’d be interested to see if people would explore it differently, or think about it differently, because I think a bit of it is quite relevant to most people. I had a song that I have previosuly released, it’s in the album, it’s called ‘I don’t mind’, and my friend told me that she really really liked it and it sounded really relevant - its about staying inside when its really sunny and feeling bad about it - and its like, ok, cute , perfect, thats good.
M: What influence have your friends and family had on your creative process?
S: Well, I was in a band with my Dad, not even that long ago! And it was so daggy, but I loved it. Because it was the one time a week that I saw him for two or three hours. My Dad and I have an interesting relationship, but it was just fun to be able to play music with him - he is a drummer - but outside of that, a lot of my musically gifted friends, really blessed me with good jams! And good connections. A friend of mine, I would go over to his house every week to jam, he got me into another band, and all that stuff that sort of falls into place when you want to do something personal with someone else.
M: Where are when can we find this album?
S: It will be out on all platforms! But no one uses all platforms .. everyone uses spotify, or apple or something. So its out on those! It will be out, uhh i have to think of a date off the top of my head… imma say August 5th! How good is that!
M: Let's go back to the production. You said it was made in your bedroom, and just recorded on your own gear with no funding or anything.. Tell me more about that process, the technical process of the music writing.
S: Well I was thinking about this the other day, that I don't have expensive synthesizers, I don't have electronic drum kit, or a midi keyboard, or any of these things.. But I DO have a tambourine, and an acoustic guitar, and a bass, and a melodica! I decided to do 99% of things, just as scratch mic recordings, so its gonna come out as folk, because thats just what I have in my hands. But if i had a big keyboard and some space, it would come out totally different.
M: And you’re open to just kinda using whats in front of you, right?
S: Yeah! And I feel like thats important - if I one day want to try something new, I would have to put myself in a new environment, surround myself with different instruments. Maybe thats the next step.
M: What instruments do you play?
S: The only ones i DON’T play , are probably string instruments, like violin, and thats about it. Ive recently picked up the clarinet, I started on the trumpet. I could play a saxophone and a tuba.
M: And if you could bring only one instrument to a recording studio what would it be?
S: I feel like the easy pick is guitar, but i want it to be something silly. If it was a pre existing band and sound and they were like “we just need you for one instrument!’, I’d probably bring my little melodica, and just do some twiddly Ds on the melodica.
M: Ah well, do you have anything else that you would like to add to the discussion?
S: I hope everyone enjoys listening to it, if you don’'t give me some feedback , if you do give me some feedback, and I hope that people will give me more gigs by listening to this thing - that would be awesome. This is my debut album release!
M: What is the name of the album actually?!
S: Oooh… haha… SOLACE.
M: Huh. I like that. Any meaning behind the title?
S: I feel like i wrote a lot of them on my own in my bedroom.
Alone. But in a good way. Solace.
STREAM SOLACE ON EVERYWHERE YOU STREAM YOUR MUSIC!
