There’s a line on 'Honey', the upcoming album from Nashville-via-NYC songwriter Samia, about Aspen Grove, a collection of 40,000 trees in the plains of North America, all connected by a single expansive root system. There’s no stronger metaphor for the audience the 25-year-old empathy engine has been generating since she began releasing music seven years ago. Her songs, her fans, her friends: one enormous, interconnected ecosystem.
'Honey', comprised of eleven new moments of catharsis, is by and for that organism. Set for release on January 27th, 2023 via Grand Jury Music/V2 Records, the album was recorded at North Carolina studio Betty’s –- owned and operated by Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sandborn and Amelia Meath, frequent touring partners of Samia’s. It was produced by Caleb Wright, part of the team that helmed Samia’s breakthrough 2020 debut 'The Baby' (praised by the likes of The FADER, Pitchfork, NYLON, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, i-D to name a few, ), and a founding member of one of Samia’s favorite bands, The Happy Children. It features some of her nearest and dearest friends: Christian Lee Hutson, Briston Maroney, Jake Luppen, Raffaella. Its songs were surreptitiously road tested for her devotees while opening for Lucy Dacus, Courtney Barnett, and more.
Today, Samia shares the Honey-opener ‘Kill Her Freak Out’ to accompany the album’s announcement, available now as a single with a video directed by Samia and Muriel Margaret, featuring Samia and Academy Award and Golden Globe-Nominated actor Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea, Boy Erased, etc.). ‘KIll Her Freak Out’ features Samia’s trademark combination of vulnerability, mordant humor, and evocative use of quotidian details, such as the line “I hope you marry the girl from your hometown,” which Samia deadpans before delivering the exasperated punchline “and I’ll fucking kill her / and I’ll fucking freak out” with heartwrenching relatability.
Samia shares: “I wrote ‘Kill Her Freak Out’ at my loneliest and most delusional. I’d been quieting my true feelings for fear that someone would leave. The chorus is a reaction to constantly downplaying the emotions that felt wrong; it was cathartic to say the opposite of what I’d been saying for so long to this person I was trying to impress. I didn’t want to kill anyone, obviously, I just wanted to yell. It sort of marks the end of The Baby’s story.”
She goes on to say the following about Honey: “This record is about learning to see the love around you. Sometimes the only thing I can be certain of is the way it feels. Even when I zoom all the way out, the little things matter the most. I was trying to imagine looking back at the end of life and what I'd have to say about it right now. This is a little bit of it. Telling stories, making amends, trying to show people I love them. It's a community record - I made it with Caleb Wright and our friends in the woods in North Carolina.”
The announcement comes ahead of Samia’s debut run of UK and EU shows, taking place across October and November. The tour will visit the Melkweg in Amsterdam on both November 15 and 16, supporting Maggie Rogers.
The album has two different sequences - one for continuous play on digital & CD and one for a side break listening experience on vinyl and cassette. The vinyl features its own unique mix and master tailored to the LP experience, while the album will also be available on Apple Music & other retailers in Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio. Limited edition copies of the vinyl purchased at indie retail feature an exclusive flexidisc of Samia covering The Yeah Yeah Yeah's ‘Maps,’ while deluxe edition copies purchased from her webstore or Bandcamp feature an exclusive flexidisc of Samia covering ‘Country’ by Porches.
