Album Notes

"If every singer-songwriter had this much power behind such an economy of words, we'd probably all have a higher consciousness by now. Maybe that's what Sam Lowry's nudging us toward, one breathy, retributive melody at a time." - Splendid E-Zine

Sam Lowry spins tales of broken relationships and the fool's hope that moves us all from one disaster scene to the next, like some mid-west Raymond Carver with a guitar. Over the course of two critically acclaimed albums and shows, ranging from gas money gigs in coffee houses and tiny bars to festivals like MACRock 2001 and Bloomingtonfest 2002, Lowry has slowly been spreading his fractured folk across the country. Lowry and his occasional, ever changing backing band the Circumstance have garnered rave reviews from audiences ranging from the alt.country crowd to fans of singer-songwriters to the underground indie-music scene.

In 2002, Higher Step proudly released Lowry's second album; the beautiful and sad "Between the Lotus and the Han." This album found Lowry evolving his sound to incorporate the rootsy aspects of his live shows and a greater sense of melody while keeping the electronica beats, noises, atmospheric sounds and darkness of his critically acclaimed debut. "Between the Lotus..." placed Lowry alongside Tom Waits, Sparklehorse and the Tindersticks as a fellow storyteller of a dark rustic tradition and was supported by extensive touring, taking Lowry and his Hyundai coast to coast a few times.

"A creative, dark and deep venture into the shared musical crevasse of artists like Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. Sparse, empty and despondent, this album slowly oozes its voice from its pores, dropping pools of dark, liquidy hopelessness into a deep well of bottomless imagination. With incomplete thoughts and scattered pieces of wisdom, Sam Lowry weaves a shadowy but stirring album for those who are in no hurry to understand."- CD Baby

"Lowry has concocted an honest, dark and surprisingly melodic exercise in aural subtlety that works to maximum effect. His textural, slanted and poetic take on Roots music gives new meaning to the phrase 'American Gothic.'"- City Beat, Cincinnati