First European review calls album “masterpiece” and an “impossibly beautiful piece of art”
Facts
— Release date 30 March 2012
— Release on European labels Für Records and Raw Onion Records
— Release in rest of world on Sam’s own label, distribution through Powertool Records
— Samuel (Sam) Gray grew up in New Zealand and moved to Europe in 1997 after a high school exchange to Norway
— Sam recorded his first full album at age 16
— Sam recorded Songs About Humans at home in Oslo (Norway) in 2001, playing many of the instruments himself, recording Oslo-based friends on others
— Songs About Humans remained undiscovered for a decade until found by Danish label Raw Onion Records in 2011
— Sam speaks five languages fluently
— Sam is mainly based in Austria but still calls New Zealand home and travels back annually
Tour of Germany: 15-20 March 2012
Contact: press@samgraysinging.com
Sam Gray Singing
As a kid Sam Gray could play any song you knew and more besides. Piano lessons from age 7, first songs written at age 8. First publicly released solo recording at age 14, first full-length album at age 16 on sale at the local record shop. Straight-A student to boot.
Multi-instrumentalist Sam has always done things his own way. He fund-raised $9000 for a high school exchange to Norway while still going to school. He enjoyed the exchange in Norway so much that he decided to do his university studies there. After 3.5 years of self-financing and one album on a borrowed four-track, Sam was entitled to a Norwegian student loan. With the first loan instalment in 2001 he bought a 16-track portable studio and recorded Songs About Humans in his student residence, playing some of the instruments and arranging the other parts for classical and jazz musician friends. Sam moved to Vienna for a student exchange in 2003, eventually relocating long-term to Austria.
A decade later, the missing vocal tracks were added to Songs About Humans in a Viennese studio and the album was professionally mastered before being discovered by Danish label Raw Onion Records and Berlin-based label Für Records.
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