Album Review: Sam Evian’s “Premium” Should Go Platinum

Sam Evian’s Premium is an intimate look into a young, New York man’s mind. As Sam plays music to anecdotes and glimpses into his everyday life, you feel like you have found the tattered diary of a man you never knew. As you read it, you discover that this stranger is your brother. 

Music for me is an intimate, personal experience. Thus, I love hearing records from artists that conclude the same.  There is a fearlessness to Premium that may go unrecognized behind cloud-like compositions and Evian’s eased vocals. Yes, his rhythms are meant for you to sit back, lie down, and drift away. Yet, after a few listens, you start to want to know the person that has made you feel like you can rest from the chaos or routine of your life. It is in this moments that Evian’s Premium truly delivers as each of his 9 tracks are the ideas and sentiments on his life that feel so open, you grow to care for him like family. 

From mishaps, feelings of inadequacy, and brief moments of joy, Premium feels like the journey of every single soul that comes to New York with young dreams and must confront adult realities.  Songs like “Golden Skull” will have every “dater” in the city wistfully agreeing on Evian’s dating experiences as he tries to make the best of a first date that probably will not lead to a second. Other tracks like “Sleep Easy” discuss the clash between the dreams and realities of a relationship trying to grow in a darkened, small Brooklyn apartment. Hence, what I love about this album is that it is Evian’s musical opus into how he constantly tries to transform life’s disillusions into personal perseverance.

For me, this album feels like a ballet of hope. The albums swirls with a delicacy and precision that can sound like the orchestra to a Met Ballet. You can picture ballerinas dancing across the concrete jungle, NYC, trying to embody through motion the spiritual resilience they need to socially survive. It is in this moment that Premium elevates from Evian’s personal journey into political commentary,  as what human being in New York does not have opinions reeling in their mind over what defines civility. In the tracks, “I Need A Man” and “Big Car”, Evian ponders whether he will ever feel free, particularly to love, when racism, sexism, violence, and overall ignorance seem to be growing at desperately alarming levels. It is a fear that is all too common, especially during this current election. “Where is the love?” is both a thematic question in Evian’s album and life. Is it still in him, his relationship, or the world?

Favorite Tracks:

Cactus: A perfect track for putting on your headphones, lying in your bed, and just laying there. Not much is needed for this song to do its work. It is all about just absorbing life for what it is and, in some ways, treating it like the water to your cactus.

Big Car: guitar riffs, playful drums, and sun-kissed vocals dominate this track on the tense, fleeting moments we all feel as a great time begins to fade. We have all shared an instant in our life where we felt so free that we wished that second would last forever, and, as it faded, we grew restless. This song proves the Evian can build a musical dream to encompass harsh emotions.

Golden Skull: I love when songs tell you a story, but when they tell you a true one it feels all the more special. Golden Skull maybe about the beginning and end of a first date, but it will feel like the beginning of your “forever love affair” with Sam Evian.

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