ALBUM REVIEW: Stowaway – Samiam
“No matter what kinda shape I’m in / Somehow I fall back up again” sings SAMIAM vocalist Jason Beebout on the fourth track of their ninth album Stowaway. Of course, you could say something similar about any number of punk bands their age at this point, and yet the words feel particularly apt for these Oakland veterans. Prolific in the early 90s, then signed and later dropped by a major label in the post-Dookie feeding frenzy, and having slowed their output significantly in the two-plus decades since the release of 2000’s Astray (which, for the record, would be a perfect 10 if we were here to review that), the Californians have always produced quality no matter what life’s thrown at them, and it is a pleasure to report that their first album in 12 years is no exception.
Recorded sporadically in various studios as the pandemic added itself to the many obstacles SAMIAM have surmounted over the past three decades, the first and most important triumph of Stowaway is that this is by no means a disjointed effort. Notably the band’s shortest album – and by some margin at just 34 and a half minutes – it carries a constant sense of drive and momentum, running from one melodic punk anthem to the next with a level of energy that belies just how long these guys have been around. Singles like Crystallized and Lights Out, Little Hustler – as well as Shoulda Stayed which features the aforementioned “fall back up” line – provide some excellent early examples, each housing many elements of what one might call vintage SAMIAM; interweaving guitar lines, rich vocal harmonies, and instantly memorable hooks – all tinged with the band’s trademark uplifting melancholy.
That may be a bit of a poetic oxymoron, but if you’re familiar with any of SAMIAM’s previous work it should make sense. Beebout especially has always had a knack for turning often quite desperately sad lyrics into cathartic mantras and earworm hooks, helped of course by the general melodicism and energy of the music behind him. Nowhere is this more apparent on Stowaway than in eighth track Natural Disasters – a firm highlight that sees guitarists Sean Kennerly and Sergie Loobkoff weave their typically stirring leads and melodies around Beebout’s lyrics of firestorms and falling power lines and being “stranded here with me”. Whether it’s a metaphor for something else, or quite literally about the end of the world we live in, disaster has never sounded so hopeful.
Also key are the band’s newer additions of Colin Brooks (drums) and Chad Darby (bass), who form a tight and taut rhythm section responsible for much of the aforementioned momentum that keeps this record firmly on track from start to finish. Their provide an essential and sturdy backbone to the often more soaring elements of Kennerly and Loobkoff’s guitar work, with a crisp and fulsome production in turn ensuring that this is comfortably SAMIAM’s best and warmest sounding record to date – another triumph considering the disparate circumstances in which it was captured.
This is normally the part where we say something like Stowaway was ‘worth the wait’ – which make no mistake it absolutely was – but there is a bit of a risk that such words might actually sell this record short. This isn’t just a matter of satisfying the expectations of patient fans who would’ve accepted pretty much anything passable from SAMIAM at this point, this is a genuinely brilliant record even with all context removed – proof of one of the best and perhaps most underrated punk bands of their era and beyond. It should be more than enough to convince anyone new to the band to dig into their rich and ludicrously consistent discography, and for those already on board it is a welcome return that meets and maybe even exceeds the lofty expectations this band have set for themselves with such persisting brilliance.
Rating: 8/10
Stowaway is set for release on March 31st via Pure Noise Records.
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