Beyond presents:
Sam Brookes
Entry Requirements: 14+ under 18's to be accompanied by an adult
Sam returns from work on his third studio album for a set of full band shows around the UK. Named by The Independent as one of the best albums of 2014 and as a contender for the Mercury Prize, Sam’s second album, Kairos, established him as a staple of the UK live scene. A creeping, underground success, Kairos, has since racked up over 10 million Spotify streams. Also, in demand as a vocalist, Sam has lent his crystalline voice to artists as diverse as Basement Jaxx and Lucy Rose. Now, Sam returns to give some of his new material its first full-band outing. After a period of personal loss and upheaval, Sam reaches for new emotional and musical depth in his songwriting, drawing on his observations of himself and the world around him. “I deal a lot with vulnerability and empathy. I can’t help but put myself in other people’s shoes, like a kind of empathetic impulse. Wherever I see unfairness and suffering, I need to understand the perspectives of everyone involved, to get to the essence of those experiences and to come to terms with them myself.” With his next album on the horizon, these shows could be a final intimate glimpse of Sam's rare and currently under-the-radar talent.
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