With Common Ground, Sam Stokes proposes a quintessential album of the guitar-vocals type. Precise and lyrical, the singer paints all landscapes with ease and proposes a collection of poetry to go even further.
COMMON GROUND – SAM STOKES
With each new series of chords, and each new melody, Sam Stokes finds a way to teleport from a deep forest to the heart of a city, and even into space during her most psychedelic times, like on her ethereal first track An Introduction to Light & Love.
The strongest asset of this record is undoubtedly this flexible voice, sometimes clear, lyrical, sometimes slightly husky, deep, and fiery. With the guitar, the musician has found that wonderful balance – Fig Tree in a Monastery is a perfect example. That’s because Sam Stokes is The Fire, burning up everything, quietly yet passionately, with rage and wisdom. Who Does Mother Call? goes from folk roots to something more blues, a folk-rock that takes its time and pays tribute to all mothers. Met a Man is a delicate one, changing the atmosphere drastically from Release From the Microcosm and its grand and emancipating space travel.
Like a Feather and Common Ground are the clearest of all hymns to love, of which the record is full of. For more difficult times, Sirens They Call and Amuzani are obvious choices. The Sun & The Moon seems made for those natural friendships that form in the blink of an eye. Write the Letter and Out to the Meadow are closing this record beautifully with a little something that lulls, stings the heart, and still wraps in a warm and reassuring moment.
It is an embrace the artist encourages on the last spoken words of the record. Easy to listen to, this deep and soothing voice is an addiction until the very last drop.
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Now Playing: Common Ground
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📷: SAM STOKES – THE FIRE
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