Samantha Fish - Kill Or Be Kind

 

Kill or Be Kind is Samantha Fish's fifth studio album, but her debut release with independent label and major distribution outlet Rounder. Kill or Be Kind is poised to break her out of the blues market as it sonically caters to both rock and Americana fans, and expand her demographic out to a younger, female audience. The album, which will be released on September 20, 2019 was produced by three-time Grammy winner Scott Billington and mixed by two-time Grammy winner Steve Reynolds.

As Fish told Guitar World, the lead single "‘Bulletproof' is "about losing touch with yourself when you try to make everyone else happy. It's a little bit of an observation on society's standards and the music industry-how people can criticize every little thing, and because you're in show business you're expected to be bulletproof as an individual."

"Vulnerability being taken as weakness, you put on a mask to steel yourself," she continued. "It's a facade, but we all do it anyway."

Anyone who has ever heard Fish's previous albums knows that she has earned a place in the top rank of contemporary blues guitarists and that her voice can wring the soul out of a ballad and belt out a rocker with roof-shaking force.

While those virtues are fully in evidence on Kill Or Be Kind, each of the songs on the album does far more than simply provide a setting for Fish's pyrotechnics. They tell captivating stories, set up by verses that deftly set the scene, choruses that lift with real feeling, and hooks that later rise up in your thoughts, even when you're not aware that you're thinking of music at all. It's the kind of songwriting that emerges when raw talent is leavened by experience and aspiration, and when a committed artist genuinely has something to say. Those qualities make Kill Or Be Kind a genuine artistic breakthrough for Fish.

Fish sought out high-quality songwriting collaborators for the album — the likes of Jim McCormick (who has worked with Fish before and also written for Luke Bryan and Keith Urban); Kate Pearlman (who has worked with Kelly Clarkson); Patrick Sweeney; Parker Millsap; and Eric McFadden. The result is an album on which each song is distinct, but the complete work hangs together as a coherent, entirely satisfying statement.

 

 

 

 

Side A:

1. Bulletproof (Tangle Eye Mix)

2. Kill Or Be Kind

3. Love Letters

4. Watch It Die

5. Trying Not To Fall in Love With You

Side B:

1. Fair-Weather

2. Love Your Lies

3. Dream Girl

4. She Don't Live Around Here

5. Dirty

6. You Got It Bad

Be the first to write a review for this item OR just rate it