Remember the time you heard a track and it made you shift in your seat because it is not what you expected? I have had it happen to me rarely since I started dissecting songs like a pretentious museum curator. Sam Lumar has his debut with SODA, and I shifted visibly in my seat hearing his voice.
Howard Jones from Killswitch Engage had this deep baritone that could melodically ascend and descend octaves. With SODA, Sam Lumar channels all the rock gods he admires and makes a track that can only be explained as mentos and cola. Now that I have used the song title as content for a terrible analogy, let us get into the song.
Soda POP-rock!
The song has a strong spine of pop-rock, yet leans on the energy given by rock. How did you make this composition?
I originally composed SODA with the idea that it would be a punk or metal song. In my mind the vocals were going to sound more aggressive in the beginning but everything changed the moment I wrote the lyrics. Back then I was going through a difficult time and this was reflected in the way I wrote the lead vocals. The production was made so you could hear the sadness in the vocals combined with the frustration in the guitars.
The chorus is a catchy give me soda, which I can’t wait for a stadium full of people holding a mock soda can sing. Using silences to amplify that massive guitar sound, Sam Lumar has learnt from the best and channeled it like a master. The track is an effervescent tidbit of parts of Linkin Park, and many metalcore bands. Sam’s sticky factor is his voice, and the ability to add electronic music to rhythmically bedazzle the bridge parts.
Under the influence-of travel
Your bio introduces a traveler of sorts to listeners. What is your experience with travel translating to music?
I grew up listening to a lot of music written in multiple languages such as English, Spanish, Japanese, German and even Romanian. Travelling for me is a way to escape from my comfort zone and discover new perspectives about life and ways of thinking that becomes a huge inspiration in my music.
Are there artists you would like to state as inspirations, maybe someone you would like to collaborate with as well?
Oh wow, there’s a lot of musicians that I admire and would love to collaborate with. I am a massive fan of Mike Shinoda and Linkin Park, The Offspring, Sum 41, Red Hot Chili Peppers, System of a Down… If I gave you the full list I don’t think your web server would be able to handle it!
You can bank on that. I’ve been compiling my list of artists and it isn’t even 1/4th done. Always growing, and always adding more. I hope I can add Sam’s first album to my favorite indie artists list as well.
Till then, listen to Sam Lumar here:
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Discovered via http://musosoup.com
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Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
