SAMANTHA FISH is one of the most galvanicitatory singer-songwriter guitarists on the planet.
We have likened her skill with the slide guitar, and the pure intensity of her performance, to “starlight filtering through smokefall.”
Her unmatched blazing combustion, her artistic audacity, her emotional profundity, and her distinctive rock and soul fusions have consistently captivated her eager audiences.
Fish’s dazzling stage presence and her skillful guitar playing have propelled her career to incredible heights. Her 2023 album, Death Wish Blues topped the Billboard Blues Chart and earned her a Grammy nomination. Through the success of this disc, Fish earned invitations to support artists such as Jon Spencer, Slash, and The Rolling Stones.
this paper doll stands out strong from the others: Fish is known for her industriousness, her uniqueLY INVENTIVE character, and her multifaceted nature…
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Hailing from Kansas City and currently based in New Orleans, the musician will drop her next album, “Paper Doll”, on April 25th, 2025, via Rounder Records.
Each song on Paper Doll, which was produced by Detroit garage-rock icon Bobby Harlow (The Go) with help from another Detroit great (Mick Collins of The Gories fame,) is offered with unprecedented lucidity, restorative sensitivity, and an undeniable forcefulness.
Thin paper dolls are flat-pack dress-up dollys that have been used in fashion advertising for centuries. Frequently, such paper dolls represent idle women, standard female forms, or two-dimensional has-been celebrities. But this paper doll stands out strong from the others: Fish is known for her industriousness, her uniquely inventive character, and her multifaceted nature.
‘I’m Done Runnin’ uses electropolished galvanized guitar and maize husk percussion in its edgy construction, while the lyrics express both excitement about the future and reflection on past regrets. Consequently, this song’s pulse ‘n’ groove exude unrestrained positivism. As anticipated, Fish’s deft slide-guitar technique is radiant on this, coming over as silverfrost glistening, and bursting with irrepressible energy.
silverfrost glistening and bursting with irrepressible energy…
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The fast-paced electric blues number ‘Can Ya Handle The Heat?’ (live video shared below) has a funky potent punch and a molten sulfuric guitar break. It’s chromium-plated elevatedness!
‘Lose You’ features a straightforward guitar riff that is matched by a breath of anticipation. It’s a classic blues-inspired rock ‘n’ roll piece , jam-packed with texture, and with a memorable verse and singalong chorus that’s impossible to resist. This begs to be acknowledged (and loved).
‘Sweet Southern Sounds’ is a generous benedictory that embraces creamy organ slurs and gospel-soul devotion. The chilly chrome guitar on this work is backed by shimmering tambourine rhythms. Astripotent!
‘Paper Doll,’ the album’s title track, unleashes high-pitched, intensely sharp vibrations that will target a listener’s emotions, to tear them apart like a vengeful cat’s claw. This song, which is a scuzzy, chopped-down, cut-off, and rag-tag slashed metaphor about getting even, is undoubtedly the most remarkable number on the disc. This comes across like a reaping-hook of retribution!
This album — a masterpiece of construction — vibrantly expresses new levels of unrepressed determination, unstrictured desire, stubborn feistiness, calculated subtext, and intense zest.
Fabulous!
Words: © Neil Mach
Photo: Aries Photography
The album is released by Rounder Records on Friday April 25th. 2025
Order here: https://found.ee/SFPaperDoll
Samantha will perform the following UK shows in May and June 2025:
May 28th 2025 – Cheese & Grain – Frome, UK
May 29th 2025 – Red Rooster Festival, Thetford, UK
May 30th 2025 – Arts Club – Liverpool, UK
May 31st 2025 – The Brook – Southampton, UK
June 1st 2025 – Academy 2 – Oxford, UK
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