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Musician bringing mix of classic folk and new indie to Nanaimo concert

Sam Singer perform at the Vault Café on Oct. 25
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Sam Singer will play the Vault Café on Oct. 25. (Submitted photo)

The Vault Cafe will host Canadian folk singer Sam Singer for his first show on Vancouver Island on a tour of Western Canada.

The Winnipeg musician is promoting his most recent album Where the Rivers Do. A press release from Signal Noise Music Marketing describes Singer’s music as a blend of classic folk and new indie “delivered with the soulful romanticism of an old-timey lounge singer.” 

Singer will be accompanied by his band, which the press release says “makes for a lively and rustic live show, moving between traditional folk and indie rock styles with ease and grace.” 

As well as hopefully buying some merch from the show, Singer said he hopes people leave with something intangible also, such as a good feeling and inspiration. 

“That would mean I am doing my job if people who saw us play left and then that started some kind of unstoppable train in motion in their mind, whatever that leads them to do. Maybe that inspires them to [think] like ‘man I gotta call my mom,’” Singer said. “That would be cool if it moves somebody to do something. Not on such a grandiose scale but just in a small way.” 

Where the Rivers Do was released this year and Singer said he wrote many of the songs while travelling in Europe, Los Angeles and spending time in Vancouver. Singer said the album explores relationships and a feeling of closeness to people who are no longer around.

“Somehow channelling them through song and a lot of love songs – you just can’t escape them,” he said. 

Singer said his songs are often inspired by people in his life who may not be expressive in a creative way.

“To me they are very interesting people and [I am] taking that voice and trying to sing their song through my eyes because that is all I can do.” 

His song Midnight Horse, he said, was inspired by an interaction he had with a cancer patient at his job playing music at a hospital in Winnipeg. He said after hearing a song, the man told Singer he was transported to the 1970s by the music. The song inspiration came from a dream the man told Singer about. 

“The first night there he had this dream that this horse came to his window – this big beautiful horse and picked him up from his room in the cancer ward and then it rode off with him into the sky, picked up his family as well,” Singer said. “I was trying to honour him for a while and finally got that song out.” 

Making and performing music is something Singer said he loves to do and he feels he has to do. 

“I do feel like it is an important thing even though maybe the scale is small what I am doing; it’s not like I am going to be playing for like a thousand people,” he said. “I just feel like it can do some pretty beautiful things for people. I don’t want to say I think I could help people but I think I could do something with the songs that I write and performing them.” 

Ahead of his tour, Singer released a new music video for the first track on his album. It, along with other songs can be found on YouTube. In addition to the Vault Café show on Oct. 25, Singer will also play a house show in Victoria on Oct. 26.