Sam: Bad

Recently, Poland has been home to some wonderful sounds from the underground – the likes of experimental duo Fading Tapes and the one-woman army that is Mila Cloud leading the line with excellent releases over the past couple of years.

Hailing from Opole, fellow countrymen, Sam, is latest provider, first landing on the radar late last year with his excellent LP, Drone Bells on the Field. The Polish guitarist has carried that momentum into 2024, first releasing the three-track LP, Organic Faith. An enlightening album filled with emotional vistas that enhance the glory of the ambient post-country movement.

He makes it a quick follow-up with Bad. Here, the experimental guitarist trades in the cold landscapes of his native Poland for the barren grounds where tumbleweed and roadhouses form the backdrop to his alluring tweaks and twangs.

While Organic Faith saw Sam travelling through the same seam where SUSS have found wonderful results, Bad sees Sam stretching beyond, immersed in the long-form with three compositions that move the needle in countrified improvisation.

It begins with Beyond, where Sam is the architect of the kind of bourgeoning atmospheres that drift to the edge of cliff that leads to the abyss. While Blake Conley’s droneroom project has been an influence throughout Sam’s work, here it’s not just a subtle nod but a firm rubbing of shoulders with the Certified Kentucky Colonel. It’s no bad thing, because Sam still maintains his own style both in tone and execution. There’s more of a rigid structure at play here, where you can see an endpoint to this aimless wandering. 

All sees Sam actually taking the leap into the abyss. And within these deep recesses, the echoes of Mark Nelson’s Pan-American can be heard. It’s equally as wandering as Beyond, but here there’s a shadowy aesthetic that Sam hasn’t explored before. Soundscapes that scratch at the subconscious, revealing a new shade of darkness.

Finishing with Dopamine, Sam persists with the full-on twang treatment. Like All, this isn’t for lamenting over campfires or sunsets. With a subtle drone beneath the mix, it plays out like Earth doing a score to a Cormac McCarthy short story.

It rounds out an album that could be construed as the warts and all Sam experience. Amalgamating the best parts of his previous works, despite what its title suggests, there’s a catharsis to Bad that is informed from everything from country and psychedelia to drone and post-rock. It’s one of those sleeper albums that those with curious ears will be glad to stumble across.

Bad is out now via Pepo!Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.