We’ve been waiting to share this amazing first taste of the forthcoming Joe Sampson EP, Songs of Delay, released via Hidden Shoal on 12th September. On ‘My Love’, Joe Sampson musters maximum emotional resonance from the sparest of musical ingredients. Held together with just acoustic guitar, bass and double-tracked voice, the song exudes an impending finality. Seemingly both disconsolate and resolute, Sampson wrings so much from so little – all in just under two minutes.
Songs of Delay is a sublime five-track EP of consummate songcraft. Across its 13-minute run-time, Joe Sampson patiently unfurls a perfectly formed suite of acoustic vignettes, each song exuding a gently mesmerising beauty. Stripped back in both instrumentation and execution, with additional vocals by Nathaniel Rateliff on ‘Songbird’, the EP leaves its raw, emotional core exposed, evoking the comfortably sad acoustic tones of Nick Drake or Leonard Cohen. Ornamented with often darkly humorous lyrics, intoned in a soft yet road-worn baritone, Sampson’s intimate, emotive songs draw you in, gradually weaving their subtle magic.
Stream ‘My Love’ at SoundCloud or grab a limited time free download over at Bandcamp. Read more about Joe Sampson here.