ROOMFUL OF GHOSTS is a new collection of songs from singer-songwriter Samm Bennett, just released from Polarity Records. The twelve songs feature a shedload of curious and unexpected sounds from a mind-boggling array of percussion, stringed instruments, jaw harps, mouthbows, synths, toys, gadgets, junk... whatever it took to get the job done!
Bennett's songs are alternately (or sometimes simultaneously) whimsical, introspective, vaguely optimistic, darkly pessimistic, arcane in their allusions or crystal-clear in their simplicity. Like life around the planet on any given day, they run the gamut of human expression.
Stylistically, his music is perhaps best described as a meeting of African-inspired rhythms with melodies that harken back to American folk forms and blues. Imagine the rhythmic playfulness and sonic invention of musicians like Tom Zé and Hermeto Pascual combined with the melodic stylings of Skip James or Roscoe Holcomb.
Two of the songs from the record, "Ain't No Train" and "I Burned This Song" may be heard on the music player at Samm Bennett's MySpace Music page. (While you're there, there are 3 other tunes not included on ROOMFUL OF GHOSTS, as well.)
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ROOMFUL OF GHOSTS song list:
01. A Thousand Rhymes
02. Used To Ride That Train
03. Tingle Tangle Mingle Mangle
04. Venezia
05. I Burned This Song
06. Boom Chicky Boom
07. Blues Wrapped Round My Head
08. Until You Kiss Me
09. A Little Scared
10. Ain't No Train
11. Life
12. Dixie Wigs
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INSTRUMENTS heard on ROOMFUL OF GHOSTS:
vocal, jaw harps, strumstick, talking drum, udu, frame drums, mouthbow, darbuka, shakers, scrapers, sandpaper, rattles, bells, cajon, bass drum, bombo, Korg WaveDrum, faux fiddle,
hypothetical hurdy-gurdy, dove call, big bowl of water, ukulele, snaps, spoons, tambourines,
pitch pipe, Juno 60, onboard synths, overboard clavinet, face slap, warpable materials,
plastic bags, loose change, tubes, toys, gadgets, junk
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Recorded, mixed and mastered at Polarity Studio, Tokyo, Japan
Thanks to Ito Haruna, Metafilter Music and Dixie Wigs
Jacket by Polarity Design, photograph by Ito Haruna
All words and music copyright P and C Samm Bennett / Polarity Records
All songs published by Directional Music (BMI)
POLARITY PN524
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