Sam Hales called off his wedding following a decade-long relationship and channelled it all into this warm, uplifting record
While making this record, Sam Hales called off his wedding following a decade-long relationship (they’re still mates, FYI), which informed this album overall. Processing through songwriting helped heal Hales’ heart as he set out on the road to self-discovery. Experiencing Feelings Of Joy ain’t no bitter breakup record.
“I said kick it Mumma did you know your love is kinda punk/ Ain’t no man was stoppin’ you from raisin’ us all on your own” – during the opening Tell Me How It Feels, Hales gives his single mum her flowers. This song’s verses are delivered in punchy, percussive, monotone fashion while the choruses climb into silky falsetto.
Hands-in-the-air banger A Moment Like That holds space for future romantic love. On a bed of sighing strings, All The Time In The World’s euphoric brass spreads hope: “You could be my one every day.”
- Label: Amplifire Music
- Release: 8 May
- Listen on Spotify
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Lipsyncing Are You Seeing Anyone’s chorus to baddies on the d-floor is a surefire way to ascertain relationship status and gauge interest. World’s Getting Smaller, a stripped-back piano ballad, documents the heartsick stage.
“My feet are on gravel, but I feel like I’m floating above” – Is It Love?, with its elongated strings and boppy pace, faces the music – he’s lost that loving feeling: “Tell me how I’m s’posed to feel.”
We’re left with a feeling best summarised by this famous line from a Tennyson poem: “‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
