Stowaway – Samiam

The punk/pop/emo-rockers in Samiam are back with a long awaited new release in the form of Stowaway. This is their first release since 2011’s Trips. In my case, I haven’t listened to Samiam much since around the 2000’s when the fantastic album Astray came out. I remember buying Whatever’s Got You Down but I did not really get into that record much.

Still, I was excited to hear that the band was going to release new material. And after listening to Stowaway I have some mixed feelings.

The album definitely sounds like a Samiam-album, although with a bit more of a mature feeling, which is understandable considering that it’s gone some thirty years since the band started out. But that also means that some of the energy has dissipated a little bit. I find myself missing that almost desperate energy that a lot of the older songs had in the chorus. It’s not that these songs lack energy, but it’s not really up there with some of the earlier stuff.

There’s no denying that these guys are still good song-writers. Although I feel that the themes on the album become a little bit repetitive after about half the record. The songwriting is solid, but there are not many instant wow-tracks in my ears. It’s an album that grows with the listens, and become more of steady companion than a fiery lover.

My expectations where pretty high going in to Stowaway, and Samiam didn’t really meet them all the way on this one. With that said, many bands would be quite happy to reach this level of songwriting, and managing to have such a long career, albeit with some hiatuses. I’m hoping that Samiam can find the time to record more songs together.