Friday, December 20, 2019

Samantha Sidley named one of 2019’s best by Los Angeles Times; Reveals noir video for “I Can’t Listen,” written by Inara George, via Billboard.

 “Sweet, funny, tastefully arranged vocal-jazz disc about same-sex romance,” out now; Sidley plays L.A on Jan. 20th, three-night NYC stand Feb. 6th-8th.

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Samantha Sidley as photographed by Logan White

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 Samantha Sidley | “I Can’t Listen”

Samantha Sidley’s “I Can’t Listen,” written by Inara George, is about struggling with depression. But the Los Angeles-based jazz singer is positively ebullient about the black-and-white, noir-styled video.

“I love that video,” Sidley gushes to Billboard. The clip was directed by Nigel DeFriez, a friend who also helmed the clip for “I Like Girls,” another track from Sidley’s debut album Interior Person. “It feels like a movie, an old French film, this woman riding in a car, gonna get the fuck out of town, she can’t look at herself anymore...

“(DeFriez) said, ‘Can I just film you singing the song with a handheld camera?’ I said, ‘Sure, of course!’ We did it two days later. Barbara (Gruska, Sidley’s wife and album producer) did all the lighting, just switching things on and off. It was a real DIY thing, but I think it came off beautifully and it tells a really beautiful story.”


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Samantha Sidley | Live


01/20/2020: Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon (w/ Alex Lilly, RSVP)

02/06/2020: New York, NY @ The Green Room 42 (TIX)

02/07/2020: New York, NY @ The Green Room 42 (TIX)

02/08/2020: New York, NY @ The Green Room 42 (TIX)

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Los Angeles Times | Best Albums and Songs of 2019

See the video for “I Like Girls” and read an in-depth interview with the Los Angeles Times here.

Sidley’s quietly radical debut album, Interior Person, is premised on the idea that a listener in 2019 shouldn’t have to decode a love song to hear herself in it.”

 “Something you might not have realized you needed (though this L.A. native certainly knew she did): a sweet, funny, tastefully arranged vocal-jazz disc about same-sex romance.”


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Samantha Sidley
Interior Person
Out Now
(Release Me Records)
  

Track Listing:

01. I Like Girls (STREAM | MP3 | VIDEO)
02. Only You Can Break My Heart
03. Naked To Love
04. Butterfly In My Ass (STREAM)
05. I Can’t Listen (VIDEO)
06. Listen!! (STREAM | MP3)
07. Rose Without Thorns
08. Busy Doin’ Nothin’ (STREAM | MP3)
09. Easy To Be True
10. Interior Person

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Samantha Sidley | In The Press

“Ms. Sidley has a sweet, girlish voice, so light that at times it almost disappears. But that vocal weightlessness is somewhat deceptive. She holds in reserve an airier version of the wail deployed by Rickie Lee Jones and Laura Nyro, which injects blushes of emotional color into her mostly playful singing.” The New York Times

Samantha Sidley turns ‘Singing In The Rain’ into a pro-lesbian anthem. It’s her take on the black and white era of catchy songs from movie musicals but updated to be inclusive and reflect her take on the world.” Refinery29

“Feels like a breath of fresh air. But it is also its meticulously crafted sound, which blends vintage jazz with more modern pop elements, that makes it such an outstanding debut.” JAZZIZ

“It takes us back to the speakeasies of the 20s, with flirtatious saxophones and crisp, expressive vocals. The song (‘I Like Girls’) is a sophisticated and delicious ice-breaker, serving anthemic lyrical content for an evolving culture.” Grimy Goods

Sidley’s voice in ‘I Like Girls’ is playful and velvety, a perfect mood-setter for a cocktail hour. This song does not disappoint.” AfterEllen

“Puts plenty of pop into the jazz world’s ears... Offering a shot in the arm to the genre, the song (‘I Like Girls’) will be in your head for days after just hearing it once.” Closed Captioned

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Samantha Sidley | About

Samantha Sidley is a jazz vocalist, born-and-raised in Los Angeles, and she likes girls.

The words “I like girls” are the first thing you’ll hear when Sidley’s debut album Interior Person (Out Now, Release Me Records) opens. The song is an unassuming anthem, a future standard for an evolving culture. It’s also a fun and funny ice-breaker that you’ll sing along with.

“I Like Girls” is a peek into what plays out as a meticulously crafted debut album featuring Sidley’s beautifully trained voice taking confident ownership of songs written for her to sing by some of the most important women in her life.

These other “girls” include fellow musicians Inara George, Alex Lilly, and Sidley’s “Top One” favorite musician of all-time, her wife, Barbara Gruska.

Inara and Alex and Barbara wrote songs that are all very personal to my story – they literally are my story – and from my lesbian perspective, which I appreciate so much,” Sidley says. In addition to co-writing many of the songs here, and playing drums (masterfully) on many of the tracks, Gruska also produced Interior Person in a studio constructed in Sidley’s childhood bedroom.

“My whole life was a song,” Sidley says of her childhood. “If I looked at a tree, it was a song. If I felt happy, sad, joy, it was a song. When I first heard Judy Garland in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ I remember thinking: ‘I understand.’ I’ve always considered myself an interpreter, which is sort of and undervalued art form. I like to take a song and make the story true for me.”

Sidley soon discovered Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, soul music in general, and her own personal “soulfulness” itself. You know, like all seven-year-olds do. Later, considering how annoyed 11-year-old Sidley was when her vocal instructor wouldn’t allow her to sing Holiday’s “Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be)” at her first recital, it all made perfect sense.

A decade later, Sidley got to sing whatever she wanted, performing at NYC’s legendary Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel, where she lived in Dorothy Parker’s room, listened to a lot of Anita O’Day and Ella Fitzgerald, and landed a rave review in The New York Times.

“She knows exactly how I express myself and what my intentions are,” Sidley says of her working relationship with Gruska. “Collaborating on this record has actually been a much longer collaboration of us getting to know each other.”

Interior Person, the debut album from Samantha Sidley is out now featuring the single “I Like Girls”.  Samantha Sidley is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

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Samantha Sidley | Links


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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact


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