SAMSON WROTE - In Season

Folk is a genre you've probably heard plenty of, but rarely with traits this simple yet unusual. Wrote's songs are messy notes, ready to reveal a surreal, naif soul. The songwriter's voice plays with just a handful of notes in a narrative that ignores convention, moving between screams, stone-based grooves, and rock surges that the female backing vocals try to rein in. All of this happens in "Leafblower/Everybody's Mom", the second track on the new album by the Montreal-based artist, titled "In Season".

Sam Boer's songs trace an arc of everyday life, stories about difficult relationships between mother and son with a raw, aching crescendo ("Divine Hand"), about the rules and conventions surrounding the role of a parent: "There's an underlying assumption that I'd be a good father if I did that," he sings, as the sweeter notes flow in the background, before handing over to lovely acoustic guitar chords a two-voice dialogue on the joys and pains of having a child ("Having A Baby"). The almost theatrical, momentarily more musically layered coda confirms a rather atypical style.

"In Season" is a folk record unlike anything else you've heard lately. Confidential and intimate like a confession between friends ("Tall White Buildings"), musically intriguing and unpredictable ("Catholic University"). A concept album about the difficulties of being a family in an increasingly chaotic world ("Put The Head On The Body"), disarming in its naturalness, disorienting for its sharp irony and the bluntness of its lyrics, and thoroughly commendable for a quality of songwriting and voice that captures the attention even of those who aren't fans of contemporary singer-songwriter fare.