Small Death

2020 release. It's been just under three years since Samantha Crain released her fifth album and the elapsed time it took to make this sixth record was troubled to say the least. In 2017, a fusion of injuries sustained in multiple car wrecks, tendonitis, carpal tunnel, and psychosomatic manifestation of physical ailments caused debilitating alternations of pain, numbness, and paralysis in her hands and wrists. It made playing instruments impossible. A dark period of time ensued as a result, assuming she had lost her method of self-expression and her vehicle of creativity. Through various forms of mental and physical therapies, she slowly regained the sustained use of her hands again. Having come to terms with the evident ending of her time as a performing singer/songwriter, she felt as if shed entered into a bonus round and immediately went to work playing and writing again, this time with a newly found intensity of joy and sorrow. The songs sprung out, desperate to communicate her strenuous journey. With a clear vision of the album that the songs were forming, she took on the producing role herself and recorded the record in 12 days at Lunar Manor Studio in Oklahoma City. She's written an album beautifully composed and arranged, her voice sounding stronger than ever, and proving more so that she's a brilliant songwriter who deserves to be valued, appreciated, and recognized.