5 Songs before the summer break
Weekly5 • Edition #20 • Sam Himself, Toni Sauna, Takeshi's Cashew, Feldboat, Jungle
This is it: The last issue of Weekly5 before the summer break. Counting today’s curation, the playlist features exactly 100 songs (click here for Spotify or Apple Music).
If we would be so bold and count the “Killed Darlings” issue, the counter jumps to a very unsexy 105 tracks.
Anyway, it feels like the perfect time to take a break. Although I love to discover new music and share it with you every week, it still is quite laborious. Scanning the releases and choosing the tracks usually fills my Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. Especially now that Weekly5 is also available in German.
Therefore, I’d instead take a break not to lose motivation and get annoyed by the task. However, at the end of this newsletter, I reveal what I’ve planned in the upcoming weeks.
But now, let’s jump into today’s selection; a potpourri of musical greatness spanning from urging indie rock to arty hip-hop tunes.
Sam Himself – Nothing Like The Night
The first time I noticed Sam Himself was the release of his otherworldly Springsteen cover Dancing In The Dark. I also introduced the signature baritone from Basel, Switzerland, a couple of weeks ago when Weekly5 featured his contribution to NOTI’s letters from nowhere.
Now, Sam Himself released another single, Nothing Like The Night. Written during the pandemic, unable to return to his New York home, the song reflects on the claustrophobia and uncertainty of these times. The artist explains:
Nothing Like the Night is about self-effacement and loss of control when you suddenly have a perfect alibi for letting yourself go: the end of your own world as you know it.
As Sam Himself felt lost and uprooted, he still managed to be creative; maybe even had to be in order to survive. He recorded ten songs for his debut album. In Nothing Like The Night, his deep voice isn’t as present as one may assume, but there’s a pleading, despairing voice – accompanied by an urging and driven sound. The single perfectly captures the height of the pandemic: The detached feeling, the time and lives just rushing by while you lose control.