Sam Amidon: All Is Well
One of the highlights of Nico Muhly’s Mothertongue was the simultaneously unhinged and unflappable performance of Sam Amidon. Amidon’s cool delivery of a traditional murder ballad integrated seamlessly with Muhly’s fractured score. It was enough for me to seek out Amidon’s most recent album, All Is Well, which features orchestrations by Muhly.
As much as I liked Mothertongue, I loved what Muhly did for All Is Well.
Amidon’s previous album, But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted, established a template by which traditional material could be warped and re-rendered. All Is Well takes that aesthetic to a whole new level.
Muhly applies a very light touch to Amidon’s already Spartan arrangements. Horns and strings weave in and out, giving the music body but never making it feel bloated. As a result, the casual pace of "Wild Bill Jones", "O Death" and "Prodigal Son" never loses a sense of intimacy, even when the small chamber ensemble swells to a tense moment.
In lesser hands, these orchestral instruments would have sounded dated, but in Muhly’s hands, they propel the music forward.
Amidon’s singing style is burnished but beautiful, tender but emotive. He almost murmurs through his songs, pushing his listeners to pay close attention. Even when the tempo picks up, as it does on "Fall on my Knees" and "Little Satchel", Amidon can’t be rushed.
Where But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted sometimes felt slapdash and tentative, All Is Well comes across poised and complete. Amidon and producer Valgeir Sigurðsson sweat the details, making it feel like a proper debut.
(Amidon has previously released a free album of field recordings and a disc of solo violin folk music.)
All Is Well strikes a delicate balance between past and future, never sounding like one or the other, or for that matter, the present. It’s timeless at its heart, timely in its sound.
Amidon and Muhly make for a potent team, their common interests intersecting in ways to enhance each of their voices. Muhly adds flesh to the skeleton of Amidon’s stripped-down interpretations, while Amidon provides a timbral anchor for Muhly’s only transportation through time.
It’s a thrilling collaboration to witness.
[CLARIFICATION, 03/13/2009, 3:44 p.m.: According to this note, But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted was done by a duo called Samamidon, on which Amidon serves as lead singer. So technically, it’s not his previous album, but he sings on it. Yeah, confusing.)]