As Samson Wrote, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sam Boer considers many of life’s uncertainties on his new album In Season. When asked about the inspiration behind the album, Boer responds with the question that anchors it, “What does it mean to live a good life?”

Across nine experimental folk songs, Boer, who is based in Bear River, Nova Scotia, takes a warmly wry and thoughtful approach to finding answers. He doesn’t get lost in the unknown because he uses everyday moments and familiar objects as vessels to explore his feelings.

On the lead single “Trying to Make A Meal,” Boer searches through his kitchen for ingredients to make dinner. With each new item he finds (“Two bananas with spots of black / and a couple cups of rice left inside their burlap sack”), both gratitude and uneasiness grow, leading us to question how we manage to make anything with the ephemera in our lives. While on “Foxes,” Boer spots a goldfinch feeding another and that moment of devotion sparks newfound understanding of the world. Boer’s clarion voice rings out urging you to pay attention to the little things because the answers you seek may be hidden in plain sight.

In Season is the second album that Boer has released under Samson Wrote. His first, 2019’s Pigeon, was written when Boer was just a teenager. These songs carry with them the angst that accompanies young adulthood and fittingly, the string-heavy instrumentation mirrors the theatrics and emotional pitches of young people in love.

Boer sounds more grounded on In Season. While living in Guelph, he began writing the album on a nylon string guitar he borrowed from a friend during the early days of the pandemic. As a multi-instrumentalist with a particular love of drumming, Boer challenged himself to not take on too many roles when it came time to record. So he put together an intergenerational & inter-genre band to bring these eclectic songs to life, consisting of Jeff Bird (Cowboy Junkies) on bass, drummer Zach Cockburn (Sham Family), and, on triple-harmony backing vocals, Liv and Anita Cazzola (of The Lifers) and ethereal folk songwriter Annie Sumi.

In Season was recorded at Guelph’s most storied studio—The cottaGe—and engineered by its owner, Scott Merritt. For Boer, this was a full-circle moment: his first-ever studio experience was over a decade earlier when Boer recorded his high school band’s album with Merritt at The cottaGe. Heightening the sense of trust within the familiar studio space was the album’s co-producer, and longtime friend of Boer’s, JoJo Worthington, who brought a gentleness to every bold creative decision.

The warmth of the album feels like a byproduct of this caring environment. Melodies playfully swing; sounds of recorders, bowed vibraphone, and reed organ are nestled throughout; and, as heard on “Having A Baby,” unexpected flourishes of three-part vocal harmony and vocal play dazzle.

While Boer sings about the challenges of navigating the world and ponders big questions, by the final track (“Put The Head On The Body”), he knows what he wants: “I want to see you in season.” Maybe Boer doesn’t have all the answers, but he holds onto hope that things will be better, that he will be better, and that his community will flourish. Boer wants to see you bloom so he can bloom alongside you.

(written by Laura Stanley)