Let’s just cut to the chase: Songs in The Night by Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers is a delightful album. Even those who crinkle their noses at the mere mention of any kind of Americana  could very well find this to be the gateway drug into the genre. To call it full-blown Americana might not even be fair though; it’s more like jangly indie rock with firmly planted folk roots, or sweet alt-country that dabbles quite a bit in darkness.

The woman in the center of it all, Oklahoma-based songwriter Samantha Crain, is only a mere 22-years old but sounds more like a veteran than the debutant she actually is. Crain only has one release previous to this album – The Confiscation EP – which came out in 2008. Together with her band The Midnight Shivers (Jacob Edwards, Andrew Tanz and Stephen Sebastian), Crain recorded the full length Songs in The Night in an impressive five day marathon. However I suspect the album’s high quality is also much due to producer Danny Kadar, who’s worked with Grizzly Bear and My Morning Jacket amongst others. Either way, these songs will no doubt be good company night or day.

~ “Rising Sun” ~