Sam Brookes
Biography Sam Brookes
Sam Brookes
is a Bristol-based alternative folk artist whose distinctive voice frequently draws comparisons with Jeff Buckley and Bon Iver and has landed him features and collaborations with artists as diverse as Lucy Rose and Basement Jaxx.
His 2011 eponymous debut saw him named as Sunday Times ‘Breaking Act’ and his independently released follow up Kairos was picked as one of the best albums of 2014 by The Independent. Considerable streaming success and support slots for the likes of Willy Mason, Scott Matthews and Joan Armatrading have earned Sam a dedicated following.
Black Feathers was released in October 2020 on Go Slowly Records. It is Sam’s first album in six years and described as “a meditation on grief”. Taking centre stage on the new album is Brookes’ emotive multi-octave vocal and his guitar, a stripped-back approach that lends the album its intimate and confessional feel.
‘The guitar playing is exquisite, the vocals sublime. As a singer and songwriter, Sam Brookes is already entering the highest echelons. He is a national treasure, and Black Feathers suggests that if it takes another six years for the third volume of songs, the wait will be worth it!’ - Folk Radio
‘Carefully produced and lovingly constructed, a finer chunk of absorbing, modern folk you will be hard pressed to find. For all the woes at its centre, Black Feathers somehow never feels miserable or self-indulgent; it’s a work of introspection that actively draws the listener in. It may not put a spring in your step but it does offer to walk beside you, like some mysterious emotional companion. It is the sound of calm inside the storm and of light emanating from the darkest places.’ - Rich Barnard, Red Guitar Music
‘Black Feathers sends its own prayer (coated with many colours!) into the warm summer night stars with exquisite ever-present vocals and patiently choreographed slow-danced songs.’ - Bill Golembeski, Folking
