Michael Patrick Brady

My review of the new Sam Amidon album, I See The Sign, ran today in the Boston Phoenix.

I was first introduced to Sam Amidon through his performance on the latter third of Nico Muhly’s Mothertongue, where he let the composer play with his twangy, dry voice on their revisionist take on the folk ballad “The Only One.” The pair is reunited on I See The Sign and once again Muhly provides the sumptuous, modern classical backdrop to Amidon’s folk warbling, though this time, Amidon steers the ship. They somehow manage to be both faithful to the original songs while radically augmenting them with modern instrumentation and experimental phrasing and arrangements. It’s a quiet, yet bold album.

Buy Sam Amidon’s I See The Sign at Amazon.com