Wolverhampton star Sam Lambeth has just released his new 8 track album, No Sign of Summer with songs that don’t drift too far away from the rock genre, but each song tells a different story.
Sam Lambeth has had recognition from Radio One, NME, Rolling Stone, and Radio X. His music is a mixture of alt-rock with country-like vocals, which works well together. This album reminds me a lot of some Midwest emo bands such as American Football, The Get Up Kids, and Mineral. It has that melodic sound to each song which is a huge part of the Midwest emo genre.
Starting the album off is Find Out Why. I didn’t know what to expect from the album after listening to this track as this song includes that bold but compassionate sound of a harmonica. In the introduction, the harmonica is played with a gentle strumming from an acoustic guitar – which is also played during the vocals. This song isn’t the best on the album. The vocals sound a bit off from the rest. It’s as if the vocals were recorded quite close to the microphone. Furthermore, the feedback is quite prominent in this song.
The album has a build up to it. Starting with softer songs building up to songs that use electric guitar and hard-hitting drums. As we approach the 3rd track, Just When I Was Feelin’ It, the electric guitar with the drums is more elevated with a guitar solo around 2 minutes in. This stood out to me as a guitar solo is always something to admire, for me personally.
As we reach towards the middle of the album December ’25, When You Take That Train, and What Would I say To You Now, these songs kind of have the same repetitive theme. Without a doubt, it’s an album talking about Lambeth’s emotions that reflect loss and sadness.
With his vocals telling the story, they carry the emotion through each song so powerfully. You can hear the sensations through his voice. Saying this, the vocals on all the songs kind of sound the same which lets the album down. There isn’t a song that doesn’t sound like the other due to the vocals.
Additional to this, the instrumentals in the songs are different from each other which carries more of an upbeat feeling to the tracks. As we reach the end of the album with Summer’s Gone, the tone changes. It sounds like a whammy pedal in the beginning of the song. The song talks about ‘not letting go’, with the title being Summer’s Gone this song suggests Sam can’t let go of the memories he made within the summer time – something everyone can relate to.
Overall, this album is decent. It doesn’t stir away from the rock genre too much and is consistent throughout the album. The only downside to this album is that majority of the songs sound the same. You can hear how hard Sam Lambeth has worked on this album, and for that I credit him!
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