[ About ]
‘The finest English-style finger-picking guitarist of his generation’ Jon Boden
A startlingly perceptive and self-assured young singer and guitarist from the English midlands, Sam Carter has spent the last few years busily honing his craft both as a writer and performer, studying guitar with Martin Simpson and touring with Bellowhead whilst holding down his post as Emerging Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre.
Armed with a ‘killer voice’ (Nitin Sawhney) and the ability to play his guitar ‘like a harp’ (Time Out), as well as an unerring ability to put his personal experiences into a wider perspective, the east London-based songsmith made his mark with his debut album ‘Keepsakes’ released August 2009.
Picking up from where the intricate guitar and ‘haunting’ (Eliza Carthy) storytelling of his EP ‘Here In The Ground’ (released April ’08 via Proper) left off, ‘Keepsakes’ is a collection of ten songs of rare depth and detail that belie their author’s tender years. That’s not to say that ‘Keepsakes’ doesn’t pack a punch; Sam kicks the album into life with ‘Yellow Sign’ spitting a fiery tale of east end violence over breakneck and impossibly intricate fingerstyle guitar work.
Elsewhere is a striking rendering of ‘Oh Dear, Rue The Day’, a traditional folk song and tale of romantic deceit and bitterness. Drums and acoustic bass pound as Sam’s visceral vocal sets the scene and is matched in its intensity by support from Bellowhead’s prodigious young fiddler Sam Sweeney. The album closes in a headily reflective vein with ‘Spill Those Secrets’, a beautiful and heartrendingly fragile song where Sam’s tender voice and guitar are ushered towards the album’s final climactic moment by cello and piano:
‘Spill those secrets one at a time, come the morning they’ll be with mine’.
This final lyric features in the carefully crafted album artwork accompanied by a series of images of curious objects. At Sam’s request, fans sent him their very own keepsakes along with a note revealing their personal significance. The keepsakes were then photographed by the D&AD (British Design and Art Direction) award-winning Thom Atkinson ensuring that the audio and visual elements of the album work beautifully in tandem making the experience like opening a shoebox full of your own treasured objects: haunting, humbling, uplifting.
Sam Carter’s album ‘Keepsakes’ was launched with a thirteen date UK tour in September/October 2009.
