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DRIVING

by Sam Wilkes

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rob f
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rob f The song Ag makes me melt almost every time I hear it. Such an amazing album with a stellar lineup of musicians. Can't wait to see what else these peeps come up with in the future. Favorite track: Ag.
honeydiu
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honeydiu I listen to this teary eyed driving through my hometown Favorite track: Hannah Song.
sluckman93
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sluckman93 Another primo release from a stalwart of the LA contemporary scene. Equal parts Joni Mitchell-esque art-folk and experimental nu-jazz. Sam Wilkes continues to defy labels and expectations in the best way possible. Best enjoyed, as the title suggests, while driving. Favorite track: Hannah Song.
cole88
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cole88 this tune is a real beauty! Favorite track: Own.
renejones04
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renejones04 True work of art Favorite track: Hannah Song.
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  • "STAMP EDITION" CASSETTE
    Cassette + Digital Album

    -limited edition of 50
    -unique stamped brown paper bags -- signed, and numbered [1-50]
    -og "roadium swap meet" style dyno label on spine
    -hand written spine insert
    -sent with a small poster print of the Vinyl album art made by Michael Chadwick and SW (not pictured)

    Includes unlimited streaming of DRIVING via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

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  • CASSETTE
    Cassette + Digital Album

    -150 made
    -album credits on inside of J Card
    -designed and formatted by Miles Witner & Sam Wilkes

    Includes unlimited streaming of DRIVING via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

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  • VINYL
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    -500 copies
    -black vinyl LP
    -hand stamped labels
    -alternate PlayStation1 style album cover designed by Michael Chadwick
    -layout by Miles Witner and SW
    -mastered for vinyl by Capsule Labs and pressed by Onyx

    Includes unlimited streaming of DRIVING via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

    Sold Out

1.
Folk Home 04:45
2.
Ag 03:46
Agnes, Where’s your heart? Has it moved since we first started staring at each others eyes? At lunch, I tried... You told me, “Lets got home” to my apartment, like it was your own. My soul moved a little bit As I watched you and smiled. I smile cuz I wanna try.
3.
Hannah Song 03:00
4.
Own 03:54
Let it go like it or not you’re on your own again. It’s not your fault but sooner or later you’ll have to let this pass. Letting go isn't a concept it’s an action.
5.
Knows 04:12
6.
Conga 03:10
7.
Again, Again 04:18
I don’t ever think that we will ever be a partnership I think that we should go it alone I guess i should stop referring to we as “we” I guess i’m only talking about me I think i oughta work on myself for now… but I guess i'm learning it again guess i'm learning the same lesson again, again now i see all that is in front of me is me past and present, future versions need to stay in the middle but i guess i'm learning it again guess i'm learning the same lesson again, again now i know the way to go i’ll take some time and reflect on the path that i took to become so fucking neurotic
8.
And Again 06:55
9.
Driving 05:19
I was on a mission from god I could feel it in my bones In the front seat of your car You were driving me home. Dead of summer A/C’s on iPod’s In I wanna play you a song... (Driving) Out the window The greens are greener Than they’ve ever looked in our old home town I’m excited And you’re smiling Could I bring the moment to its crisis? (Driving Home) I’ve been dreaming of being with you In every dream that i’ve had for so long Now you’re driving And I can share what’s inspiring My point of view and path… But then, like a disguised Athena, Is our English teacher Walking home in this brutal heat With a big black bag strapped over her shoulder And her face was red As she walked up that hill Trudging on this summer day. You say “was that Ms. O’Hara?” I don’t know what to do Surely it’s the right thing to go and get her, But what about my moment of truth? (Driving Home) I said “no, let’s keep going” You agree but with disappointment I feel strange, like fight or flight And the song I’ve waited to play you for so long Oozes out of Your car speakers This wasn’t the effect I had planned on. Now you’re driving And it’s silent A decision I think I picked wrong. dropped me off And I said goodbye And your chest didn’t get red like it used to I walked home With my head hanging low Depressed that there was no chance to... The only chance i had to take Was to stop and give our teacher a surprise break But I was on this mission from god And I couldn’t see what would’ve been more fun… Next time I will Follow chance Instead of fearing how it could ruin my one shot at romance. I’m driving, driving home.

about

Driving is Sam Wilkes’ Indie Rock record. Out October 6th, 2023, it is the first release on Wilkes Records, an imprint borne of the artist’s emergent need to self-release. The songs presented here exist comfortably within the ever-expanding Wilkesian cosmos, characterized as they are by virtuosity, torqued experimentalism, and collaboration with a range of talented musicians. But Driving’s influences, its sincerity, and its allegiance to a certain pop sensibility reflects a departure for an artist who has primarily staked his claim within the experimental jazz idiom.

Take the first track, “Folk Home,” which inaugurates the album’s fecundity—a bright, green, humid, summer feel. A swirling, freakout coda of reversed vocals gives way, in no short order, to a caterwaul of flute work that conjures Van Morrison’s (in)famous Astral Weeks sessions. Standing beside Morrison, the usual suspects are all present, if somewhat abstractedly. Dylan, The Dead, Joni, the Fab Four. Wilkes has developed a reputation as an experimental jazz luminary, but his deep affinity for the pop/rock/folk idiom of the latter twentieth century rings clear throughout Driving. More so than any Wilkes release to date, Driving is a collection guided by and dedicated to the man’s attention to songcraft.

Written and recorded during a period of rain-damage induced renter’s itinerance (and the attendant desire to produce a kind of therapeutic, self-soothing, home-feeling music), Driving loosely charts the trajectory/experience of “a protagonist,” both Wilkes and not, “who has figured out how to live an enlightened and fulfilled life, but is unable to do so because he thinks about it too much.” This friction is surely relatable — a symptom of our compulsively self-aware present. But Wilkes avoids the obvious pitfalls of public hand-wringing. Rather, Driving’s nine tracks evince a genuine, and mature searching-ness, both sonically and lyrically. The ending refrain of “Own” serves like something close to a thesis— “Letting go // isn’t a concept // it’s an action.” In an attempt to beat back ego, hyper-cogitation, language itself, Wilkes arrives at an axiom that feels so true and familiar, you’d swear you’d heard it one hundred times before.

Driving’s final third is, fittingly, its most emotive and cathartic. Tracks seven and eight, “Again, Again” and “And Again,” form a diptych, joined most obviously by the jangling, recursive grooves of guitarist Daryl Johns. Wilkes is said to have encouraged Johns to go “full Lindsey [Buckingham]” (clearly a welcome and resonant prompt), but one also catches stray Knopfler vibes, some intermittent Fripp, and (perhaps more-so in tone than technique) the spirit of DIY prophet and jangling man himself, Martin Newell (the Cleaners from Venus). Wilkes has stated that he finds joy in creating musical environments suitable to the contribution and flourishing of his favorite musicians. Throughout Driving, and in these two tracks especially, he has more than succeeded.

The record closes with the titular track: a story-song that, according to Wilkes, poured out of him (melody, composition, and lyrics) in a single sitting. The tale is told plainly, bravely, starkly; a mistake was made, regrets have been had, and all is wrapped up in the recollection of a deeply felt adolescent heartsickness—a time when the narrator was first afire with music and automotive freedom. The song captures the moment when meaning inexplicably falls into place, when a long-nagging memory suddenly assumes narrative form, and the subsequent sense of lightness and unburdening. It is fitting that Driving, a record conceived as a form of self-therapy, should culminate with a sense of humble revelation. That Wilkes is plainly eager to share the vulnerable fruits of this labor constitutes Driving’s joyful offering.

Words by Emmett Shoemaker

credits

released October 6, 2023

Folk Home:
Drums - Craig Weinrib
Flute - Rob Sheppard
Sampler - Chris Sorem
All Other Instruments & Vocals - Sam Wilkes
Written by: Sam Wilkes, Craig Weinrib, & Rob Sheppard

Ag:
Cello - Karl McComas-Reichl
Violin - Paul Cartwright
Violin - Megan Shung
Viola - Thomas Lea
All Other Instruments and Vocals - Sam Wilkes
Written by Sam Wilkes

Hannah Song:
Drums - Craig Weinrib
Electric Guitar - Dylan Day
All Other Instruments - Sam Wilkes
Written by Sam Wilkes & Dylan Day

Own:
Drums - Louis Cole
French Horn - Aija Mattson
Cello - Karl McComas-Reichl
Violin - Paul Cartwright
Violin - Megan Shung
Viola - Thomas Lea
All Other Instruments and Vocals - Sam Wilkes
Written by Sam Wilkes

Knows:
Drums - Craig Weinrib
Vocals - Thom Gill
Electric Guitar - Craig Weinrib
All Other Instruments & Vocals - Sam Wilkes
Written by Sam Wilkes, Thom Gill, & Craig Weinrib

Conga:
Arp 2600 and Ensoniq ESQ-1 - Chris Fishman
Electric Guitar - Dylan Day
Written by Sam Wilkes, Chris Fishman, & Dylan Day

Again, Again:
Drums - Tamir Barzilay
Electric Guitar - Daryl Johns
Electric Guitar - Dylan Day
Background Vocals - Thom Gill
All Other Instruments & Vocals - Sam Wilkes
Written by Sam Wilkes, Daryl Johns, & Thom Gill

And Again:
Drums - Tamir Barzilay
Arp 2600 and Ensoniq ESQ-1 - Chris Fishman
Electric Guitar - Daryl Johns
Electric Guitar - Dylan Day
Background Vocals - Thom Gill
All Other Instruments & Vocals - Sam Wilkes
Written by Sam Wilkes, Chris Fishman, & Tamir Barzilay

Driving:
Acoustic 12 String Guitar - Sam Wilkes
Vocals - Sam Wilkes
Written by Sam Wilkes

Produced and arranged by Sam Wilkes
Additional arrangement by Craig Weinrib on "Folk Home" & "Knows"
Additional arrangement by Chris Fishman on "Conga"
Additional vocal arrangement by Thom Gill on "Knows" & "Again, Again"

Recorded By
Sam Wilkes, Chris Sorem, Pete Min, Craig Weinrib, Dylan Day, and Daryl Johns

Recorded At
Nest Recorders, Lucy’s Meat Market, Sam’s Apartment, Craig’s Apartment, Louis' House, Dylans Apartment, Daryls basement, and Sam’s Childhood home in Connecticut

Mixed by
Chris Sorem and Sam Wilkes

Mastered by
Mark Chalecki and Chris Sorem

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about

Sam Wilkes Los Angeles, California

Sam Wilkes records music. Composer, Producer, Arranger, Bassist. Performs live primarily playing a fender precision bass. Sam Wilkes lives in Los Angeles, California.

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