Samantha Fish – Faster
Joe Siegler
- AllMyVinyl #85
- Band: Samantha Fish
- Album Title: Faster
- Release Date: 21 Sep 2021
- Date purchased: Gift – 29 Aug 2024
- Location purchased: N/A
- Color of vinyl: black
- Number of discs: 1
- Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]
I wanna ooh, I wanna ooh
You’re gonna ooh
That’s how I’ll make your heartbeat faster, faster
I wanna ooh, I wanna ooh
This is an album I don’t have much backstory with at all. There’s a friend of mine (yo Thomas) who was always talking about her. I’d heard the name, I’d seen a couple of random Youtube videos, but wasn’t an artist I knew much about. What I did know is that she could play. Wasn’t just some local who got some notoriety, she had some chops. Yet still I didn’t follow up on it. You know the deal. Too many other bands, too many other things.
This all changed this past August when Thomas gifted me this album. Wasn’t too long after my birthday this year, that he sent me a package with some swag from a Deep Purple concert that happened not too far away. At the time I was unable to go to the concert due to ongoing health issues, and as such he was kind and sent me some swag from the merch table at the Purple show. However, in there was a Samantha Fish vinyl – this one. It was most unexpected, and was interpreted as “OK, now you have to listen to this!” hahaha.
So I did. And found a quite pleasing record. As I said before I had heard her play before, mostly in club videos from Youtube. The first time I ever heard her was a video from 10 years ago when she played some club (with a different backing band), and did War Pigs. Was a damn good cover too. I’ve included that below on my page. But this article is about this album. Which I found out was her seventh overall – and there’s been another once since (in 2023).
The coolest thing is that the vinyl is autographed. Now I wasn’t there for it, but Thomas was – he got it autographed by her at a Meet & Greet or some such stuff. Very cool gift, so yeah. When you get something like that, gotta listen to it – no doubt.
That’s my history on this – relatively new (to me), although the album itself is about 3 years old now. So, some songs…
Faster – At first I wasn’t sure what to make of this, as I just enjoyed the guitar riffing and the cool sounding vocals in the chorus. Then I realized what this was about. Our good ol rock stalwart – sex. “Come on, right here, I’m gonna be a little forward So shy, locked eyes, why you sitting in the corner I’ll be nice, I won’t bite, can ya come a little closer? It’s alright, I just might be the type to wanna be a little bolder”… The lyrics at the top of the article are part of the chorus for this one. The main riff is simple yet effective, and I like the sound of the chorus. Good opening track.
All Ice No Whiskey – Fun song title. Going just off the title, I assumed the song was about drinking. It is not. It’s about people again – not quite sex, but basically this lyric.. “You miss when you kiss me, you’re all ice no whiskey yeah”. I was expecting a drinking song, and that’s not what this is. Another good simple riff to lead the song off – that is no way a bad thing. Was doing that “air drumming with my feet” at my desk while writing – once again the mark of a good track for me.
Twisted Ambition – What I presume was the second single off the album as it has a music video (as does “Faster”)… This starts with a slightly different guitar sound. I don’t quite know how to describe it. I want to say ‘screeching”, but that has a negative connotation and that’s not my intent. It’s a cool sound. Once we get the chorus, the sound is more in line with her other material, so it’s a cool time change of sorts. I like the guitar sound a lot on this song. A note about the video. When the video FIRST started I thought the outfit she was wearing was the same black & white outfit that the Duchess wears (see the band Space Elevator). That’s just my weird mind crossing things together that don’t need to be. But to restate – the guitar sound going on in the main part of the song (basically not the chorus) I very much like.
Hypnotic – This one has a very different sound – it’s slower – but definitely not SLOW. Has some sounds in it that wouldn’t sound out of bounds in a Genesis song. It doesn’t sound like there’s going to be a much of the guitar that Samantha is known for until we get to the guitar solo part of the song when she really kicks it into high gear, but then it goes back to the slower style again. Samantha’s vocals are in a higher register than the rest of the album to this point here too. It’s definitely a different sound. I QUITE liked the guitar solo – that was great, the rest of it feels like never really got going, though.
Forever Together – The guitar sound this one starts off sounds it could fit in in the era of the old beach movie in the 50’s or 60’s. Now it’s not QUITE like that, it’s not like Samantha has turned into Dick Dale or anything, but that brings back memories of that era for me. The riff gets repeated a lot, and sometimes that can bore me (see Sabbath’s Buried Alive), but it works here for me. There’s enough variety in the song where it’s not just the same thing for 2:53. It is a shorter song for sure, but I liked the sound. Good variety in her guitar sounds to this point of the album.
Crowd Control – Side 1 finishes with one of the few songs longer than 4 minutes (4:18). This has a more restrained guitar sound on it – the focus seems more on the beat of the song and the vocal delivery than the guitar playing. It’s not devoid of guitar playing though as there’s a solo. But the main part of the song it’s more restrained.
Imaginary War – Has another different guitar sound that’s kind of cool – but overall the song isn’t my favorite… At least that’s what I was going to say until we got to the guitar solo. Give me Samantha Fish album with 40 mins of soloing, I’d listen to that! :)
Loud – The song title actually says “Loud featuring Tech N9ne” on the album – not that I know what that means. Starts off slow, has a bit of that hit you in the face with the loud part we’re used to on songs like “Sign of the Southern Cross”. Love the “big sound” here. Good vibe. Unlike Southern Cross, this song goes back to the slower sound and then hits you in the face again with the “louder sound” again. A nice back and forth / roller coaster type of song in that regard. “Tech N9ne” is a rapper who does a section of vocals in the middle of the song – so yeah. We’re roller coasteering all over the place with this one. So many different sounds. I actually quite like the guitar sound playing during the fadeout, too.
Better Be Lonely – Opening riff reminded me a bit of some 70’s AC/DC. Like the earlier stuff – it had that kind of vibe to me. It doesn’t stay there, but that was my first thoughts when this started. Most of this song is a pretty standard straightforward rock track. Nothing bad at all – but nothing that super stands out on this one for me beyond the AC/DC thing.
So-Called Lover – A breakup song! At least that’s what I get from it when glancing at the lyrics. It probably also explains the faster tone of the song in general. Breakup songs tend to be angry or sad – and this is definitely not a “sad” sounding song at all. In fact, some of Samantha’s vocal deliveries remind me of Taylor Swift (I have a nephew who is into her) in places. That’s not to think it’s a Swift song, just small parts of the vocals. I like this track as it’s again one of my favorites – fast song, just 3:05, and gets its point across in a quick fashion.
Like a Classic – This starts off with a vocal trick that really reminds me of some of the stuff Mick Jagger used to do in the 70’s. This is a song I like more for the vocal dexterity than the fretboard dexterity. Don’t have a ton to say about this one, but I actually found myself wanting the guitar solo to be over so I could hear the vocals again.
All the Words – The album ends with this one – the second longest on the album (4:35). It starts off with Samantha and a piano – another different sound on this album. In fact it stays this way. Given a couple of songs on this album have faked me out with their ultimate musical direction I was expecting for this one to hit me in the face with some shredding, and didnt’. It stayed at this quiet vocals/piano level the entire song. Nice way to close out the album.
I’d heard this album a few times before, but I didn’t really try and digest it as such until now. Breaking down all the songs make me realize that this album has a lot of variety to it. Samantha is a hell of a guitarist, and can hang with anyone – found a video with her and Gary Clark Jr which show off her skills well. This girl can rock – great stuff here. I thoroughly enjoyed this album today, and wouldn’t mind seeing her live sometime. Will have to keep an eye on her touring once I get past my health issues. This is just one of her eight albums – plenty more to go.
If you don’t know this album, check it out. Some great stuff here, and thanks again Thomas for gifting me this – really enjoyed it.
