THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “There is no other way to state it; Canadian singer-songwriter Sammy Volkov is an artist unlike any other. In one respect, he is a throwback to a time when pop music was made by skilled craftspeople that knew how to conjure magic through the right combination of musicians, melody and lyrics. In another respect, the purity of his voice and the range of emotion it is able to convey is enough to transfix any audience.
Sammy is putting all of that artistry on full display again with his new album Songs From The Goodbye Garden, a 10-song collection that blends psych-folk, indie rock and chamber pop. Produced with Renny Wilson of Faith Healer, the album features string arrangements by two-time Grammy nominee Drew Jurecka, along with an A-list crew of musicians. The end result is an esoteric palette of sonic colours intentionally designed much like concept albums of old, when vinyl was king and the listener would entrust 40 minutes to an unbroken listening experience (with one flip in the middle).
Sammy explains, “My life’s ambition has been to create an album that could stand alongside the records I studied as a kid. Not just literally on the shelf, but as a personality in my life — a voice that I could return to and come to trust. As a young, queer person on the Canadian Prairies, I found the permission and comfort that I sorely craved in music. I went searching for songs, new and old, as a way to fill myself up and explore when I did not feel comfortable doing so with real, living people. I want to be that comfort for future generations of young people. I think with this new album, I’ve actually made something that will stand the test of time.”
Songs From The Goodbye Garden is the followup to Sammy’s 2022 debut album Be Alright!, which established his reputation by hitting No. 1 on the prestigious CKUA Top 30 in Canada. Two years later, Sammy’s collaboration with Dana Wylie, The Day Had To Come, was a classic country tour de force.
Now, Songs From The Goodbye Garden raises his songwriting to a new level, balancing bittersweet nostalgia and melancholy with upward momentum and drive. From the aching strings on The Way You Smile to the sunshine blast of a Northern soul trumpet on Over The Hardest Part, it’s as if Jackie Wilson and Townes Van Zandt found themselves in the studio together and somehow made it work.
It’s nearly unheard of for an artist to successfully play dual roles of museum curator and adventurous artist; few musicians today have the vision to try to match the work of the 20th century’s greatest composers and performers, but that’s precisely what Volkov has done on Songs From The Goodbye Garden.”
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