SAMIA
Releases Debut EP,
‘ODE TO ARTIFICE’,
Featuring New Single
‘LASTING FRIEND’
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“Armed with a deep and blistering voice, she is an ideal narrator for stories about being loud and angry about societal expectations and the need for validation.” – Pitchfork
“Classic big-feelings indie rock from this NYC songwriter, who reckons with teenage years spent letting boys touch her for social validation.”
–The Guardian
” … An artist who I really love … Samia are a Band To Watch and this song is just great … So well crafted.”– Beats 1, Matt Wilkinson
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Rising New York City singer-songwriter Samia has released her Australian-exclusive, spectacular debut EP, Ode To Artifice (out now on Dew Process and Universal Music Australia) – featuring the rocking new single ‘Lasting Friend.’
‘Lasting Friend’ – despite its up-tempo, indie rock sheen – has a dark, confronting edge, as Samia describes a confusing time she experienced in her life as a teen.
“I have this party anecdote about how the boys in middle school used to line up in the gym and touch my boobs. It’s as funny as it is difficult for me to grapple with, because it’s how I learned to measure my worth. I made a lot of friends that way and it’s hard to unlearn that routine; we were all trying to make sense of the roles we were assigned.”
As with all of Samia’s songs, the lyrics are brilliantly expressive and thought-provoking – explaining her feelings with a maturity well beyond her 22 years of age. She repeats throughout the song, “I’m not ashamed of my past,” while also exploring her retrospective thoughts on the experience and how it influenced her life. It’s like a therapy session with a melody.
After releasing the single ‘Ode To Artifice’ earlier this year, Australian support for Samia was quick out of the blocks, with the song being added to rotation on triple j and the brilliant video for the track starring both Samia and Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) being added to rotation on MTV Australia.
This was in addition to the international love she received from the likes of Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, Women In Pop and more, all celebrating the single’s throwback sound that nods to the girl groups of the ’60s, along with its own modern flair and Samia’s own brilliant turns of phrase and lyrical deftness, wonderfully complimenting her stunning voice.
Every song from Ode To Artifice shows a poet’s gift for capturing the most private of experiences, a gritty specificity that leaves her lyrics carved right onto your heart. Her ballads recall a low-lit charm and her rock songs rev and howl with intensity. But whether the volume is up or down, Samia draws from the same well of sharp-witted lyricism as forebears old and new.
“I’m so excited to be working with Dew Process,” says Samia, “and grateful to them for giving these songs new life in an incredible place I couldn’t have otherwise reached.”
Since making her debut with the 2017 single ‘Welcome to Eden,’ the 22-year-old has drawn acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork, who praised her “searing accounts of feminist frustration and daily anxiety” and The FADER, who hailed her “raw, electric energy” and “knife-sharp lyricism”.
Of course, it’s no surprise that her heroes are falling for her. Samia is only 22, but her songs aren’t. From the wistful and incredibly meta piano ballad ‘The Night Josh Tillman Listened To My Song,’ and the gentle electric strums of ‘Milk,’ through to the indie rock anthems ‘Someone Tell The Boys,’ and ‘21’– the seven songs featured on Ode To Artifice are the sort of emotional tantrums and last-call thesis statements that feel like they’ve been there forever, just waiting for someone to come around and sing them.
Now they’re just waiting for you to listen.
SAMIA’S DEBUT EP ODE TO ARTIFICE IS OUT NOW
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Watch LASTING FRIEND here
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Watch ODE TO ARTIFICE here
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SAMIA Track-listing:
1. Ode To Artifice
2. Paris
3. Someone Tell The Boys
4. 21
5. Milk
6. The Night Josh Tillman Listened To My Song
7. Lasting Friend
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Follow SAMIA
facebook | instagram | twitter | dew process
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