Sam Shingler (Finland) – Boundaries (sample/title track from EP)
The half Finnish/half British Sam Shingler doesn’t hang about. When we ran the rule over single ‘Home’ last October we mentioned that it would feature on a forthcoming EP.
But it isn’t this one. He’s already released ‘Boundaries, part I’ back in November and quickly follows it up with the sequel – you guessed it – ‘Boundaries part II’ now.
I’m not sure if this is the best way of going about it rather than one full length album but ours is not to question, merely to report. We don’t step outside our boundaries.
Equally, accessing him on Spotify is a little confusing at first because apart from the two EPs it looks like he’s released ‘Boundaries’ as a single as well.
Now I’ve cleared that off my chest I decided to stick with that title track, which is on this latter EP, as the sample track.
‘Boundaries, part II’ revolves, he says, around themes such as healthy boundaries, excruciating love, and letting go. Sounds like the Kama Sutra set to music.
Letting go seems to be the theme to this one, a voice inside his head repeatedly telling him ‘this is not ok’ when he knows he really needs to find and challenge new boundaries when he can’t even end a relationship going nowhere fast.
Previously I remarked on the simplicity of his music, expressed through the chords he selected on ‘Home’. ‘Boundaries’ is a little more complex, there are twice as many notes and it rattles along at a fair pace with a bass line that initially convinced me I’d selected a Stranglers track by mistake. Jean-Jacques Burnel would have been proud.
Having heard two songs by Sam now I’ve reached a position where I can make an early judgement on where he sits in this business. ‘Boundaries’ is a contemporary song; if he was opening for the likes of Sam Sheeran or Ed Smith (is that right?) he wouldn’t sound at all out of place. But there’s a certain 1980s quality ingrained in there too; someone like Howard Jones, who is the first one who came to mind, or perhaps Thompson Twins.
That’s an intriguing combination.
Find him on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samshinglermusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sam_shingler
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samshingler/
