Although many will drop Sam Sallon into the folk category, a track like ‘It’s Not Hard to Lose Your Way’ somewhat transcends that view. Sam’s voice may well lend itself to that folk styling, but the wonderful floating piano notes that stream away through the piece has remnants of Keane about them. ‘My Radio’ is spacious enough to allow a nice guitar phrase, piano notes to hit their chord home and a vocal style that’s confident and assured. Whilst ‘War’ has tinges of flamenco influences around it, whilst conveying a message that would not have looked out of place in those anti-war messages of the late 60s.
Sam really lets the musical enjoyment flow in ‘No No No (I Know What You’re Thinking)’, although despite the less than joyful sentiment of not wanting a woman to leave his empty arms, it is, however, the bouncy rhythm that will have many turning the volume up. There are, however, tracks that feel less comfortable, with the Country and Western tinged ‘I’m Free’ being one of those tracks. It isn’t that ‘I’m Free’ isn’t musically sound, but in the context of the tracks that has preceded it, it just feels out of place.
‘Long Way Down’ actually feels like the last outstanding track on the album, with a driving guitar rhythm that the Tennessee Three would love to have been working their way through. The interjection of double bass is evocative of the depth, before the vocal chorus lifts the track along with the string accompaniment. However, ‘One for the Road’ doesn’t finish there and just like having that one too many drinks ‘Just the Same’, ‘Too Young to Know’ and ‘You Are Home’ arrive on the scene. On their own they are tracks reminiscent of those Simon and Garfunkel melodies and yet all three together drags the latter section of the album into a rather bland ending.
What is though a surprise is the final track ‘Sunrise’ which is the most beautiful musical working of a sunrise, slowly building through the careful placement of instrumentation, until the sound blasts its rays across the emerging angelic vocals. Whether ‘Sunrise’ promises the dawn of a new musical styling for Sam Sallon remains to be seen, but with the sound of sea waves gently caressing the shore it is a deeply satisfying end to this debut album.
In ‘One for the Road’ Sam Sallon has produced a grown up album that delivers a strong sense that this is an artist who is not only musically talented, but can produce some quality lyrical songwriting. Trying to swallow the entire album in one go, maybe somewhat overwhelming, but keep coming back to it at regular intervals and it will reward you immensely.
