Биография

Sammy Volkov doesn’t have a problem describing himself as pretty weird. Rather than socializing, the so-called Edmonton-based singer/songwriter spent most of his formative years collecting records and inventing secret songs in his mind. Even today, if he comes across any kind of music he likes, he has the audacity to picture himself as a contemporary of that artist. It doesn’t matter how old the recording is—Sammy might borrow a couple of quirks from Sinatra, a little flourish from M. Ward or Neil Young, a riff from the Shirelles, and before you know it he’s crafted something startlingly original from an esoteric palette of sonic colours. It’s all there on Sammy’s debut full-length album "Be Alright!", an 11-song collection that combines pure twang with Brian Wilson-esque ambition. “Weather Report” caresses the ear like a dual homage to Roy Orbison and the great Brill Building songwriters, while capturing Sammy’s almost cinematic approach to making music. He says of “Weather Report,” “I was writing the storyline to a film about an emotionally stifled teen growing up in the rural Edmonton-area in the 1960s. He begins to find himself when he drives into town each weekend to hear a band play their regular gig and he becomes infatuated with the drummer. However, he doesn’t know if he can express this feeling, and as a way of getting closer to the drummer, he writes a song for the band to record. He gives them a demo and of course the song is a kind of angst-ridden love letter.”