Sam Roberts – Love At The End Of The World
Sam Roberts is a bit of tweener. I find that a lot people who are considered “indie-friendly” all seem to like or had some liking Sam Roberts but he doesn’t seem too big on the internet. He’s signed to Universal Music Canada and really who the hell knows how his internet press is being handled but it definitely feels mismanaged with the radio and television hype. The real problem is that because he’s a mainstream artist those hardcore bloggers (like Herohill) don’t need to cover someone who is already established. Maybe when he says “the kids don’t how to dance to rock and roll” he’s referring to us indie kids and maybe he really just hates us?
I’ve liked Sam Roberts’ work in the past. Generally, I’ve just listened to singles in my radio-friendly days but I figure it was worth a shot blogging about a popular Canadian artist for a change.
I actually had difficulty jumping right in onto the album. I find that many of the intros are very poor ones and sometimes they don’t even match the rest of the track. Isn’t the point of intro to warm you up for the rest of the song and not turn you off? Even for the intros to “Them Kids” is just so unnecessary, it hurts my ears to just hear that extra bit that doesn’t really match the rest of the song. The song is quite excellent and is the first single off the album that has been receiving quite a bit of airplay. It’s strange to find this song on MuchMusic where a song is about a generation gap but it’s directed at kids aged 12-16 with that inclusion. Just seems odd that our generation is ignored (no wonder why you’re here reading this on the internet).
I find myself not really clinging onto any tracks on this album; Them Kids barely does it for me. I find myself wanting to skip the review altogether. Sam Roberts doesn’t stand out anymore as a singer/songwriter when listening to this album. It’s pretty average and bland and with the intros to each song at times this album is mind numbing. Lyrically and musically I’m not enticed.
It definitely fails as an album, there’s some good moments on this album, Words & Fire definitely had a “moment” with me but it quickly lost me as it went on. Musically I liked The Pilgrim but it didn’t do it for me.
Rating: 2.1 out of 5
Not a recommended album. He may have his hits on Canadian radio and have his music video played but that rarely matters to me. From a personal enjoyment standpoint, I don’t enjoy it at all. There are a ton of singer songwriters on the internet that have yet to have that “success” and and overall have put out greater efforts.
his music is just okay but man, he is so hot. would hit that.