Singer/composer/guitarist Samantha Fish is starting to head the pack of upcoming ladies who sing the blues. This is her 9th album since her debut in 2011, and it mixes street level blues with some pop and even artsy indie, never leaving any prisoners.
She’s teamed with Martin Kierszenbaum/g-key-perc, Josh Freese/dr, Diego Navaira/b and some extra vocals by Hanna Brier and TchN9ne here and there. The hard hitters include Fish dark and snarly on the title tune, slinging the ax like Aerosmith on “All Ice, No Whiskey”, and slithering with the strings on “Better Be Lonely”. The team boogies with the best on “So Called Lover” and delivers more licks than a Tootsie Roll Pop on the rockabilly’d “Forever Together”. For all of the attitude, she actually works best when she eschews the black leather and puts on some faded jeans for the easy picking and synth pulse of the artsy “Hypnotic” , the indie/Nintendo’d pace of “Crowd Control” and the emotive “Loud” when she teams up with Tech N9ne. I’m sure she’ll ride her motorcycle to the gig with most of these tunes, but the more hybrid/petrol tunes fit her as well. Strong and flexible.