Contours of Exile
“There’s something in the misty air of the Pacific Northwest that’s seeped into me and my music,” says Portland singer-songwriter Sam Fowles. “The best way I know how to put it is that this is a place where mystery lives and maybe asks us to seek it out.”
Indeed, Fowles has labored to encounter the mysterious in his earnest and atmospheric music, music he refers to as pastoral psych. “I think I first heard that term associated with Dungen and The Amazing, two incredible bands from Sweden. Their music is like a soundtrack to expansive landscapes, to man’s life entwined with the life of the natural world.”
Fowles resolved to chase this mysterious entwining when he exited folk-psych band The Parson Red Heads after more than a decade. There he pulled lead guitar duties and contributed his original songs. “I was sort of like the George Harrison of the band,” he laughs, “because I played lead and sang a lot of harmonies, and occasionally a song I wrote seemed to fit the vibe of the band. Those guys are some of my best friends, we had some amazing experiences together.” During Fowles’s time with them the group worked with producers such as Chris Stamey (dB’s, Big Star’s Third tribute project) and Scott McCaughey (R.E.M., The Minus 5), touring extensively throughout the US. They also released an album on Spain’s You Are the Cosmos label and toured there in support of it. But the time came for Fowles to part company with his pals to focus on his own material. “Because those friendships were so strong, I knew I was free to go where the music was calling me,” he explains.
"Contours of Exile” represents the third effort of this focus, following 2017’s “Era Ephemera” LP and “As It Is,” an EP from 2020. “Billy and David and I have just been refining our craft over the years,” explains Fowles. “They bring my songs to a whole new level, to a place where they’ve become ‘our’ songs. And this album is the best thing we’ve done yet. We have integrated our influences and found our own sound.” As mentioned, Sweden’s The Amazing informs the lush, ambitious-yet-pretty guitars on tracks like “Greater Morning” and “Vistas,” all supporting the hazy, textured vocals Fowles poignantly delivers. The album’s songs range from the urgent and bombastic “Companion” to the reflective and intimate “Arrow,” a song which finds Fowles processing the challenge of balancing a creative practice with his role as the father of two young children. William Johnson’s guitars provide the grainy musical frame and are adorned with flourishes from flutes and cymbals. “Contours of Exile” invites the listener into a vast world of mystery which, paradoxically, resonates with some of our deepest and most universal human longings.
