watch Samia’s “Milk” video, see her on tour with Active Bird Community
New York native Samia Finnerty makes music as simply SAMIA (she has also acted and you may have seen her in an episode of Gotham), and she's been dropping singles online for a little over a year now (one of her earliest is called "The Night Josh Tillman Listened To My Song," which the actual Josh Tillman aka Father John Misty ended up co-signing). She really started to refine her sound on this year's "21," an enjoyable, Mitski-ish indie rocker with instantly quotable, conversational wit like "I weigh a hundred and fucking something pounds / That makes me almost good." She's following that single with another promising song, "Milk," which has more of a delicate Julien Baker/Phoebe Bridgers singer/songwriter vibe, but that same sense of thought-provoking, casual yet poetic lyricism ("They pull the plug and her spirit ascends and she's singing to me from on high / I'm in the bathroom seeing how far my two fingers can fit around my thigh"). The song was produced by Jesse Harris, and we're premiering it, along with its Tess Lafia-directed video. Watch below. Here's what Samia told us about the song:
I was dealing with an eating disorder while my grandmother/family’s matriarch was dying. I was so mad at myself; it felt hypocritical to be encouraging someone else to fight for her life while i was willfully taking years off of my own. A lot of people have eating disorders and everybody’s grandparents die so i didn’t feel entitled to the deep sadness I felt. I do now!
In the video, I’m really attached to these balloons which sort of represent the part of my identity that was emaciated and dealing with loss. The simplicity of the video reflects my grief; there was something comfortably uncomplicated about being totally sad.
No word on an album yet, but Samia recently signed to Grand Jury Music (also home to releases by Mothers, Twin Peaks, and more), so presumably we'll hear more about one soon. Stay tuned.
Samia is opening fellow New Yorkers Active Bird Community's tour, including the show in their shared hometown on September 27 at Rough Trade (tickets). Before that tour, Samia plays her own hometown show at Mercury Lounge on August 27. Tickets for that one should be on sale soon. All dates are listed below.
Samia -- 2018 Tour Dates
8/27 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge (early show)
9/27 - Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade *
9/28 - Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle *
9/29 - Washington, DC @ DC 9 *
10/1 - Cincinnati, OH @ MOTR Pub *
10/2 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas *
10/4 - Toronto, ON @ Monarch Tavern *
10/5 - Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo *
10/6 - Boston, MA @ Great Scott *
* w/ Active Bird Community