Review: Samlrc – A Lonely Sinner

Style: post-rock, art pop, shoegaze, indie folk, noise, post-metal, indie rock (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Parannoul, Turquoisedeath, Toninho Horta, Mount Eerie, Godspeed! You Black Emperor
Country: Brazil
Release date: 8 March 2024

The internet is a magical place where everybody has a voice; the sacristy of anonymity, a platform for self-promotion. Unfortunately, as with most good things, the hipsters have taken it over, and the inability to dox them for their stupid-ass opinions is a shame. The music world has always had a propensity for pretension (myself included), but Rateyourmusic is a true cesspool for it—though I admit it is an excellent tool for finding music if you can ignore its users’ frequent foolishness. In these weird internet echo-chambers, unexpected styles surf the zeitgeist—the chart for this year currently ranges the gamut from neotraditional country to wildly vitriolic dissonant black metal to sick industrial hip-hop from Brazil—far afield from what you’d naturally find unless you’re another one of those terminally online freaks. While some of the most popular music of all time nary makes an appearance on the RYM charts, a strange conglomerate of hipster-y mixes of indie folk, post-rock, and shoegaze consistently seem to soar high: acts like Parannoul, Turquoisedeath, Boris, and Mount Eerie don’t maintain much mass appeal, but if you only trawled the music interwebs, you’d probably think they’re bigger than Queen and Aerosmith combined (they’re not).

Samlrc is born of this movement, and I’d have never found her music had the weird nerds not pushed her to number one on their chart of the best albums of the year for a week. At just nineteen years old, Sam shows artistic maturity, ability, and vision across A Lonely Sinner, and for once I’m thankful for the RYM people being able to vote for their hipster nonsense! Besides cues from all sorts of RYM-core music—from Björk to Merzbow to the Silent Hill 2 OST to being a furry—how did Samlrc climb to the top of the chart?

A Lonely Sinner tugs at the heartstrings with simple lyrics about the nature of love, swirling synths, dreamy guitars, and post-rock crescendos galore. Sam’s sincerity in the performance comes through, and the production is extremely intimate. Tracks like “Philautia”—which progresses from minimalist folk to cheeky electronica to an indie folk strumming section that’s supremely pleasant all the way up to a massive buildup—and “Storge”—working with breakbeat drums, metal heft, and spoken word—are explorative yet unified, raw yet beautiful. With the exception of “Sheep Theme” which leans into a bland indie rock pattern for far too long, the songwriting throughout A Lonely Sinner consistently impresses, constantly evolving trying to wring all the emotion out of you it can. Sam’s lilting voice and the gentle acoustic sections can be rather gorgeous, and the sections with fuller percussion and grand movements toward powerful crescendos are sublime. The absolute highlight of the album, though, has to be the final climax of “For M.” with a heart-wrenching violin solo—utterly stunning writing and performance redolent of Bruit ≤. Finally, despite not being a furry, the story is cutesy and easy to follow for those of you into such things, and the music matches the relative lyrical intensity well, matching the peaks and valleys of the story. 

Although I praised Sam’s singing, it is the weakest chain in the album, taking a similarly depressed indie folk tone as Phil Elverum, and although it fits the style to a tee, it’s not my preferred mode and feels unrefined (noticeably so when compared to her songwriting and instrumental ability). Occasionally, the instrumental tones also sound meek, particularly in slower indie folk sections and the aforementioned indie rock track. These things can be forgiven given the bedroom recording, but they do detract from A Lonely Sinner overall. Finally, the metal section of “Storge” sounds like if somebody who didn’t know metal except via RYM’s weirdly blind-spotted taste in the genre tried to write metal, and it’s not very convincing to somebody more in tune with the genre’s pulse. I appreciate the attempt at a heavier section as a contrast to the lighter folk and shoegaze, but while the obvious passion and knowledge Sam has for the other genres comes through in the songwriting—she’s clearly a passionate student and lover of music—I think a bit more polish on the heavier aspects of A Lonely Sinner would go a long way as the riffs and tones are bland. 

I’m glad a young artist like this has exploded in popularity even if it’s in a niche community because Sam is incredibly skilled, passionate, and has a bright future composing. With a bit more refinement, the formula of A Lonely Sinner could produce a stunning indie folk album for the ages. Regardless, I’m very impressed by Samlrc and am glad I still check RYM religiously despite my reservations about the internet. Maybe I am a hipster after all… (just kidding, this was never in doubt).

Recommended tracks: Philautia, Flowerfields, For M.
You may also like: Bruit ≤, Yo, An Elephant Sitting Still (OST)
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram

Label: independent

Samlrc is:
– Sam (everything)