Album Review: Samia – ‘Bloodless’
Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
Minneapolis singer-songwriter Samia Finnerty has stuck the landing on her third LP Bloodless, making up for what was lacking on her previous record. 2023’s Honey was an ambitious but ultimately disjointed and sometimes flat attempt at digging beneath the surface; tackling heavy topics like addiction and grief, Honey had the right idea, but not the right execution. By contrast, Bloodless takes that same heaviness and executes it in a way that’s both stunning and artistically rich.
Opener and lead single “Bovine Excision” immediately proves that this time is different: “I wanna be untouchable,” Samia repeats before the first of many well-earned dynamic builds that grace Bloodless. Her vivid storytelling likens an unattainable, unidentifiable nirvana to the surgical removal of cattle organs. Bloodless, on the whole, centers around disillusionment – towards yourself, towards the people in your life, towards things that never happened. “I wished for you to read my mind / I wanted you to come and find me waiting in the foyer for you / And when you weren’t there / I made out of thin air / What would bear resemblance to proof,” Samia sings with the words barely escaping her mouth on “Proof.” The most stripped back track on the record, “Proof” shines in its minimalism, putting the spotlight squarely on Samia’s cutting lyricism. Almost every lyric on the track is a standout, with “to be loved like a child’s toy or cigarette is to die a funny feeling in a chest” being the most potent in how it so succinctly expresses the disappointment of a relationship that was doomed from the start. She breaks from the artful lyricism in the chorus to make one thing crystal clear: “You don’t know me, bitch.”
Before the quiet, though, was the storm that resides in “Carousel,” a track that best embodies the discomfort that surrounds Bloodless. Finnerty is desperate to scrounge together an identity she thinks others will be pleased with: “I’ve been rubbing together bramble / I wanna hitch my fire to your candle,” she sings as the guitars chug towards cathartic release. The song’s final minute-and-change features distorted guitar that builds up to a resonant yell that echoes as the track reaches its end. The disillusionment has hit a point where all that’s left to do is scream.
Songs like “Hole in a Frame” and “Scared” find Finnerty stepping into the soft rock sensibilities, reminiscent of the tracks from her 2020 debut, The Baby, that made her one to watch in the first place. The former showcases Samia’s unique prowess in writing about sex, with the line “a little death goes a long way” at the center (Finnerty revealed that line in particular is the centerpiece of the whole record). She finds herself surrendering to her most primal desires, likening it to Sid Vicious punching a hole in the wall at Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, OK. “Scared” delivers another lethal one-liner in “You never loved me like you hate me now,” in a dance of bitter acceptance. Samia’s delivery feels like a shrug alongside the clean guitar doubling or countering her melodies. It’s succinct, but never in a way that feels unfinished.
The record’s final two tracks, “North Poles” and “Pants,” find Samia reaching clarity, or at least temporary solace. “North Poles” surrounds Finnerty’s friendship with longtime collaborator Raffaella, finding comfort in the idea of being loved purely and platonically. Samia delivers her vocals more confidently and stronger than the rest of the album, and that’s certainly by design. Spacious electric guitars enter and build to a euphoric release that acts as a payoff that’s been set up for the past 30 minutes of the album’s runtime. It’s followed by the six minute closer “Pants,” retreading the uncertainty of identity. “Who was I when I bought these pants? / They’re non refundable / Now I’m questioning everything I am,” she asks in a daze atop dreamy guitars and airtight drums. The final two minutes of the song reel you into a final, epilogical, intimate moment. “Maybe you start living the moment you stop feeling so dumb,” she ponders. She’s found the forest for the trees. There’s a future where she knows herself.
Bloodless sees Samia reaching her full potential, coming into this record a fully realized artist. The Baby clued us into the excellence that existed within her, and now we’re seeing that promise come to fruition. Despite it being an album about lacking identity, Bloodless proves Samia knows what story she wants to tell: the result is her best work to date.
Disappointing / Average / Good / Great / Phenomenal
Bloodless is out now.
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Leah Weinstein | @leahetc_
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