Started learning music at the age of 2, New Jersey-based artist Disco Sam dropped his debut record Goddess Country on the 3rd of November, 2023. Described by Disco Sam as “Goddess Country is about how deep connections with women create a sense of their own country independent from the America one sees on a map” so, let’s dig deep into it.
Disco Sam embarks on a nostalgic trip right from the opening track Florida with its mix of 80s pop and disco. Its warm sound and mellow groovy created a catchy tune, while its fluid structure, clever layering, and on-point production offered interesting shifts that kept the listeners hooked without compromising the song’s mood. Christine comes next with a heavy fuzzy sound and lots of bass, introducing a massive sound and direction change that took the record’s dynamics to the next level. Wife keeps the energetic sound going as Disco Sam revisits his disco electronic influences, its playful melodies and irresistibly moving groove smoothly carry the listeners through its uplifting flow and cozy pace. Its mellow structure has simple twists and turns with different textures and layers that organically stick with the listeners, getting them humming and swaying to the groove. The 4th song Playing in the Deep End digs further into Disco Sam’s ambient atmospheric sound and deeply sounding beats. Creating a laidback fluid structure that solidly reflects and complements the vocal melody, offering a lot of space for the vocals to take the lead and guide the song’s progression while using multiple effects and synth in a well-arranged and layered mix. Disco Sam boosts his raving tendencies on And I Want You. It has a big blasting sound with non-stop dropping beats in a smooth escalating structure, keeping the energy always at the top while he handles the emotional and melodic part mostly with his vocal delivery. Love Bomb hits with crunchy hooking bass and a dreamy melody, creating a summery mood with a bright sound that keeps on going nonstop till the last note. Following the Disco Sam formula, comes Jersey Girl with the well-synced and arranged beats, atmospheric synth, and dominating vocal, putting his sound to shape as we’re getting closer to the end of the record. Delilah California offers another dynamic shift with its overlapping hype guitars, moving steadily and unchanged with minor twists leading to a soft outro. Sandra ends Goddess Country with Sam’s sound signature that’s been going around the whole record, spacey atmospheric synth with dry hard-hitting beats and a dominating melody, all in a streaming fluid structure that maintains his mood and direction.
Goddess Country is a cool record by Disco Sam that gives an overview of his writing and direction. The changing approach in some tracks shows his diverse influences that are all connected by dominating melodies, I believe mixing those together with some structure tweaking would result in promising compositions in the future. Looking forward to more from Disco Sam. Cheers!