SAM SHINAZZI – Then I Held My Breath
July 5th, 2009 | Published in Reviews
Sydney native Sam Shinazzi has carved out somewhat of a niche for himself as a poignant, sometimes introspective song smith… very much a man in the mould of classic singer/songwriters. This album marks his third full length release but the first that this writer has laid his hands on. It’s a curious affair, with some truly lovely moments but, unfortunately, it’s fair share of poor ones too. So lets start with the bad shall we? Well, top of this pile is ‘Girls’, a song that seems content to be lyrically little more than a list of names. Much like ‘Forge My Signature’ it feels far too forced, like Sam had a snippet of a song in his mind and rather than letting it grow he has hammered and stretched it until it’s too thin to hold together, so it snaps. Thankfully though, on the other side of the scale we have the truly lovely ‘Lil Wandering Soul’, reminiscent of the very best of Sam Roberts (to these ears at least), this is a fantastic track that is worthy of the admission on it’s own. Opener ‘Today We Lost A Great One’ shouldn’t be ignored either, an uplifting little tune that eases you into the album. Not then, a world breaking release, but clearly Shinazzi has the skills, he just needs someone to tell him which tracks to nurture and which to let whither!check out Sam at: http://www.myspace.com/samshinazzi