Sam Himself - Switzerland’s reigning "King of Tears" aka New York’s leading Fondue Western™ baritone - announces his second album, Never Let Me Go, due January 27, 2023 via Sony Music.
The ten-track LP marks the latest collaboration of "Swiss-born, Gotham-bred" (SPIN) indie rocker Sam Koechlin with his longtime producer / "Second Beatle" Daniel Schlett (Iggy Pop; The War on Drugs) and mastering engineer Greg Calbi (David Bowie; Bruce Springsteen), featuring Chris Egan (Solange; Blood Orange) on drums and Josh "JD" Werner (Ghostface Killah; CocoRosie) on bass.
Album singles Mr. Rocknroll (Nov. 11), Golden Days (Sept. 16) and Never Let Me Go (July 22), the album's title track, offer a taste of what's to come: Sam's soundtrack for the first day after what looked like the last, fueled by the madness of a rapidly accelerating career trajectory, the thrill of touring again with his band, and the promise of a reopening world whose studios, stages and dance floors we get to share again at long last. Fittingly for the most recent single, Mr. Rocknroll - a caustic sendup of that genres abundant clichés - Sam teamed up with designer Yvonne Reichmuth for a signature line of Sam Himself Buckle Pants, available for pre-order worldwide via Reichmuth's Zurich-based fashion house YVY, whose fans include Madonna and Billie Eilish, according to the New York Times.
To promote his upcoming release, Sam recently announced the first leg of his European Tour in early 2023, confirming stops in Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg and Zurich, with many more to follow (incl. a string of US dates later in the spring). But first, the two-time Swiss Music Award nominee will close out another busy year - 2022 saw Sam Himself playing several dozen shows in Switzerland alone and embark on his first German tour, in addition to recording his LP at producer Schlett's Strange Weather Studio in Brooklyn - with a series of showcases, including his second collaboration with the Basel Symphony Orchestra and a set of appearances with Icelandic artist Ásgeir.
It’s barely been a year since Sam broke onto the international stage with his debut album Power Ballads, a “well-crafted set of atmospheric post-punk,” according to KEXP. Few would have blamed the artist for taking a rest on his laurels, e.g. his first national album chart entry, radio airplay across Europe and in the U.S. (as recently as May 2022, KCRW chose Sam's song La Paz for its Today’s Top Tune segment) and two Swiss Music Award-nominations.
Wasting time, however, isn’t a skill you’ll find in the repertoire of the songwriter, performer and multi-instrumentalist. His prolific output speaks for itself: prior to Power Ballads, Sam was already making a name for himself and his “smokey baritone vocals” (Under The Radar) with Slow Drugs (2020), the EP he released shortly after the outbreak of COVID-19. The artist was touring in Europe when the pandemic pulled the plug on live music - and Sam's return to New York City, his chosen home of the previous decade. The shock and solitude of that experience went on to shape Sam’s first album, on which Sam performed and recorded most instruments himself from a variety of DYI home studios.
“His deep, rich vocals remind us of the beauty that exists even during the darkest times.”
Never Let Me Go, by contrast, was inspired by new beginnings.
“The last couple of years took their toll on me like they did on all of us, but they also gave me a lot to be thankful for. It still feels like a small miracle that anyone cared about my music while we were all going through this pretty bleak time,” Sam says, not without a touch of Swiss understatement.
When his music started to make waves, Sam felt "stranded" in his hometown of Basel, Switzerland, for the first time since his teens. Still, he didn’t hesitate to meet the moment. Thus began a period of professional recognition and personal upheaval or, in Sam’s own words: “I didn’t sleep for a year.” Then came the biggest plot twist of the whole dizzying series, according to Sam: he fell in love.
“You couldn’t make this sh*t up,” he chuckles, describing the experience as seeing “actual light” again at the end of the proverbial tunnel for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic. “When it became clear that I wouldn’t be going back to New York anytime soon, my whole world felt like it was going to end. It didn’t, fortunately. It just started over. And it’s been getting bigger ever since.” The flying sparks ignited Sam’s creative engine, too, and before long, he had an LP’s worth of new songs on his hands, each in its own way inspired by the fragile promise of having something to lose again – or someone.
To record his new material, Sam Himself rejoined forces with his longtime creative partner, New York City-based producer and engineer Daniel Schlett. The pair had previously managed to produce most of Power Ballads remotely, exchanging home recordings while Sam was in "exile."
“Sam Himself uses a vocal power somewhere between The National's Matt Berninger and San Fermin's Allen Tate to sing songs of finding your place.”