Review by Peter Coates
One of the most formidable guitarists of her generation, Samantha Fish deals in her own unmatched brand of bravado, bringing both mind-blowing power and extraordinary emotionality to everything she creates.
Since first introducing the world to her larger-than-life talent, the multi-award-winning festival headliner has built a triumphant career whose latest milestones include earning a Grammy nomination for Death Wish Blues (her 2023 collaboration with rocker Jesse Dayton).
She has toured Down Under a couple of times in recent years, so we live in hope that she’ll be back before too long!
This new record, Paper Doll, is the first one that Samantha has recorded with her touring band in the studio, and you can hear the difference this makes immediately, in the feel that the familiarity between the players brings to each track. As well as Samantha on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, cigar box guitar and lead vocals, the album features Ron Johnson on bass guitar, Mickey Finn on Hammond organ and Fender Rhodes and other keyboards, and Jamie Douglass behind the kit. Some additional support provided on backing vocals from Keo and Gabbi Beauvais and other stuff in the studios in Austin and LA, including from producer Bobby Harlow on Tambourine. Harlow has a background in The Go, a Detroit garage rock band, and provides a bit of rawness and edge to the album sound.
Samantha has collaborated with a small number of co-writers, including Kate Pearlman, Jim McCormick, Anders Osborne and producer Bobby Harlow, and delivered an intense collection of songs that show off both her incendiary guitar playing, and her soulful-blues vocals. There is an immediate hook in the moody opening riff to I’m Done Runnin’ which moves from the sparse intro into a full-blown band workout.
Can Ya Handle The Heat rumbles along driven by the bass-line while Samantha provides a fuzz-guitar melody, and rips out a crisp solo before the mid-section, and then she lets rip with her voice during the closing choruses, while the lead guitar wails in the background. There is a rolling beat to Lose You, and again Samantha shows off her new-found confidence in the power and range of her voice, which play off superbly against the complex harmonies from the backing singers. The slide guitar solo is a cracker, and extends through the back-end of the song, almost as a slice of white-noise combined with the shrieks and wails of the vocals, a modern take on the drone-like harmonies of some of the old-school Delta blues players.
There is a sweltering feel to the soul-searching and smouldering Sweet Southern Sounds, reflecting the hot and humid New Orleans of co-writer Anders Osborne (North Mississippi AllStars), and as the solo kicks in, the urgency in the voice and guitar-work builds up into a frenetic collection of soaring licks and dextrous lead breaks. This is so good I just hit replay to experience it again…..and louder!
There is an Americana folk vibe to Off In The Blue which sees Samantha’s voice take on a whole new dimension – ethereal and haunting melodies over the complex guitar lines, and the echoing tom-tom patterns from Jamie Douglass. The slow-burning feel persists with Fortune Teller, that opens with a spoken-word verse, and slides into a breath-taking chorus, while the simple slightly distorted riff pumps along beneath the voice during the half-paced first half of the song. Just when you think the track is done, the bands rips into a double-time tempo, featuring a ripper of a solo from Samantha, which erupts at the same time as dropping the tempo back into a climactic chorus to close this monster!
Bobby Harlow’s garage rock roots are supplemented by Mick Collins (The Dirtbombs) sharing the vocals on the wild and dirty Rusty Razor which has a gloriously rough edge to it, and Fish rips out an MC-5 like solo over the complex bass and drum riff, before slamming out a couple more shared choruses with Collins. The title track of the album has that drone-feel again just in the background, while there are some slick lead breaks through the verses, and a solid riff under the chorus, which echoes the melody of the Paper Doll line, before letting fly with another signature solo.
Fish has crafted every song on the album with an eye toward her incendiary live show. “The main goal is to make great songs that tap into whatever I’m feeling at the moment, but at the same time I’m asking, ‘How is this going to feel live?’” she says. “I’m always thinking about how to add to our arsenal of songs and put together an amazing show for when we’re back out on the road.” Having the live band record the album will no doubt add to that live feel onstage.
The band mellows out with the album closer Don’t Say It, a 5 minute bluesy ballad which kicks off with some intricate guitar-work, and features some great piano work from Mickey Finn. The track meanders around the melody, and allows Fish to display her prowess with a short sharp solo mid-track.
It’s an interesting observation to note here that the most impressive aspect of this record may be Samantha’s extraordinary vocal performance across all of the tracks, showing a range and intensity of emotion from punk, through blues and Americana to smouldering torch-singer – there is no doubt that she is a spectacular blues and slide guitar player, capable of holding her own with the very best, and without the need to resort to technical trickery and complex pentatonic workouts to show her chops!
I for one can’t wait to have Fish bring the band back to Australia to tour this album before too long.
Useful Links:
Website :
https://www.samanthafish.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/samanthafishmusic
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/samanthafishmusic
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaTmuzKbejaJBvfeHLNYJqQ
