Beyond presents:
Sam Brookes
Entry Requirements: 18+
London based songsmith Sam Brookes is one of the UK alt-folk’s best kept secrets. His acclaimed 2014 album Kairos was tipped by The Independent for a Mercury Prize nomination, received support from the likes of Dermot O’Leary on BBC Radio 2 and granted Sam the opportunity to perform at Live In Hyde Park. Sam is currently writing and recording new material for a forthcoming album and will be performing at only a handful of shows in 2016 to road test new material and perform current favorites.
Sam’s singing career began at an early age, filling the rafters of Her Majesty the Queen’s private chapel, as a chorister. Now his unmistakable, soaring vocal combined with crafty arrangements, deft guitar-playing and arresting lyrics delivers an aural patchwork that has been positively likened to Wild Beasts, Bon Iver, Nick Drake and Tim Buckley.
Sam is also the featured vocalist on the Basement Jaxx single ‘What A Difference Your Love Makes’ and has collaborated and toured with the likes of Lucy Rose and Newton Faulkner.
In 2017 Sam returned with the single ‘My Girl Drinks Coffee’, championed by BBC 6music. In September 2017, amidst extensive touring, Sam will release a new EP titled ‘Ice Caps’.
Line Up
Sam Brookes
Sam Brookes' new album 'Kairos' was funded by fans through Pledge Music and self-released earlier this year with support from Arts Council England. Although influenced by the likes of Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, Sam also draws inspiration from Ane Brun, Willy Mason and Elbow. Tracks such as James, This Is The Place, and Crazy World And You showcase his songwriting skills, and his immaculate phrasing and powerful vocal delivery reaches beneath the skin of an audience. Cutting his teeth on the acoustic music scene in the South West and around his London home, Sam is a hard working musician who is spreading his wings across the UK and Europe including his own headline tours and high profile support shows for Newton Faulkner, Ray Davies, and Lucy Rose. He is enjoying radio support from the BBC Introducing team and Regional network, as well as a recent live session for Dermot O'Leary and a performance at this years Radio 2 in Hyde Park.
"There is something of a Tim Buckley about Sam Brookes...a sense of powerful fragility...vast emotional reserves at work" -- Andy Gill -- The Independent ****
"Few singers would have the front, let alone the voice to entertain a comparison with Tim Buckley......" Acoustic Magazine
"Kairos is a sensuous, fluid 21 Century Folk dream" -- Neil McCormick -- The Daily Telegraph on Twitter
"Musically, he excels at propulsive, narratively rick folk, delivered in a soaring, clear-as-a-bell singing voice that makes every word of his evocative lyrics count" Sunday Times ***
"Like many before him, Brookes is moving into Jeff Buckley and Bon Iver territory... Unlike most of those aspirants, though, he sounds uncommonly at home there" Uncut Magazine
The Mercury Prize: Who should win? The Independent’s chief rock critic makes his own nominations There should be room for one or two veterans, and the sheer emotional impact of albums by Kate Tempest and Sam Brookes justifies their places
With his high, keening tenor vibrato sailing effortlessly into the upper register, there’s something of Tim Buckley about Sam Brookes on the folk singer’s latest album. Set among intimate ambient spaces of slouching percussion grooves and starlight droplets of electric guitar, his voice conveys a paradoxical sense of powerful fragility on these songs of lovelorn indecision. Andy Gill - The Independent 5th Sept 2014