Sam Bentley - Colours EP

Published by Sapheen | Filed under Music

http://www.myspace.com/sambentley

I rarely come across local music that impresses me this much. Sam Bentley’s ”Colours” certainly did well to impress, as well as remove any assumption that Birmingham cannot give rise to decent music; an assumption which was only recently broken by ‘All the Pictures’, and now of course Sam Bentley. With this 4 Track EP, the hard work of a rising artist is certainly evident, with nods towards the likes of folk musicians and the regular alterns such as David Ford, Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly and even hints of Jeff Buckley; clear enough to me that a lot of thought has gone into some very unique songwriting.

The Harsh vocal delivery is something else to look out for, it provides credibility to some of the emotive songs on display here, particularly with regards to ‘Falling’, as well as providing its own form of instrumentation; inspiration drawn from the likes of Dallas Green perhaps? The lyrics also show a further aspect of Sam’s future potential; yes, they could be improved, but they house a certain kind of poetry which at times can put a smile on the face of anyone listening to this, walking down a familiar road perhaps… for this is music I have no problem taking up a few megabytes on my rather cheap media player.

Tracks such as ‘Rose’ and ‘Outside’ quite effectively demonstrate Sam’s ability. Clean guitar/vox combos are evident here, as well as the inclusion of some light hearted drum patterns and sampled synth; without lacking decent vocals. I won’t go too far into detail: the tracks are best experienced personally. All in all, I’m quite glad I got my hands on this EP.

In this writers opinion, the standout track on here is the closer: ‘Dinosaur’. There is something extremely calming about the way the guitar mingles in with the electric piano, which later builds into heavily percussive acoustic led progression that certainly pleases; an effortless closer to ‘Colours’. This EP certainly went some way to change my opinion about the rising talent in music production that Birmingham ‘lacks’, and is certainly a good start for Sam Bentley. It certainly put a smile on my face, as I hope it does for many more.