For fans of: Kate Bush, Amanda Palmer, and Melanie Martinez.
Manhattan, NY – October 24, 2016 – Samantha Echo‘s new EP Poison Skies comes to Spotify and iTunes this Halloween season. Opens with a song called “Run to the City” that seems like it’s about ambition and NYC-style motivation, but is really about the ghost of a ten-year-old girl and warning other small children to stay true to themselves as they grow up. The phrase “Poison Skies” is from that track, and it relates to something one of Samantha’s teachers once said : that an especially beautiful sunset is an indication of a lot of pollution in the air–it’s a metaphor for the process of catharsis, and how you can create really powerful art from painful experience. The rest of EP continues to explore the theme of coming-of-age and losing childhood innocence/feeling like a little kid wearing an adult life awkwardly. It has a song about Hamlet and Ophelia that’s funny; a song about a love triangle (sung from the other woman’s point of view) that explores the concept of Polyamory but then descends into a tirade of self-loathing and rage, a song about Facebook that goes along with a really gross horror movie-themed music video which you can find on YouTube; a song about wishing on stars that’s not at all corny and is actually quite depressing, and a song that goes “I don’t blame you for breaking my heart when I left it next to your foot.” It’s very melodic, very coming of age-y and very Millenials-y.
Interview with Samantha Echo
Michael Abiuso = SBN // Samantha Echo = SE
SBN: Hey Samantha, welcome to SwitchBitch Noise, how are you?!
SE: Hi. I am well; super psyched about the new release. Here is the link to buy it on Bandcamp: https://
SBN: Your new EP Poison Skies just dropped, is this your debut release?
SE: This is my second release, but my first released with full band arrangements. My previous release was a demo, with just me and piano; this one is more of a concept album.
SBN: The tunes have a very “show-tunes” theatrical vibe to them. I’m really curious as to what your writing process is like and who your influences are.
SE: Show tunes were my first love–literally, the first song I ever learned to sing was “I Could Have Danced All Night” from the Lerner and Lowe musical “My Fair Lady;” it was such an early influence that there is a video of me singing it when I am less than two years old. I learned to sing when I was a kid from watching the Disney Movies from the ’90’s, so I guess you can take the girl out of musical theatre but you can’t take the musical theatre out of the girl. In addition, I grew up listening to Motown and ’60’s, ’70’s, and ’80’s pop music so that probably comes through on a more secondary level–probably reflected the most in my quirky harmonies, which kind of just came to me but which I am very fond of.
SBN: I do a lot of audio production myself and would love to know your recording experience. Can you share with us who your producer was and what studio you recorded at?
SE: I recorded the album at Funkadelic Studios NYC. All the tracks are mixed by Carlos Fonseca, except for the final track, “I Don’t Wish,” which is mixed by Serge Henderson. The process of production is very mysterious to me but I think the album has a very eclectic feel that blends pop, dance, and chamber music due to its complex instrumentation.
SBN: How was the recording process and your personal experience?
SE: I really liked the people I worked with personally. It’s easy to get very perfectionistic about it, so I like to use my experience with live performance to imagine that I am in front of a live audience while I record and give it a more authentic, less self-conscious feel.
SBN: Now that Poison Skies is wrapped up, do you have plans to support it with a tour?
SE: I did a tour in California and I would love to return there to promote it again; I am also planning a tour of England a few months from now.
SBN: Do you have an EP release show date set in the “made-up place with poisoned skies” (NYC) where we can come support you and see your live performance?
SE: I already did my NYC EP Release Concert at the Bitter End. There is video footage of it here:
SBN: When you perform, do you primarily perform solo or with a band?
SE: I usually perform as part of a duo, with my friend Liam Lyon, who is a Dance-Pop Singer-songwriter and Pianist. He plays piano and I play guitar.
SBN: Do you have any plans or ideas for music videos to allow for a visual element to compliment your amazing songs?
SE: I have a music video out already for my song “Show Me Your Facebook,” which you can watch here:
SBN: What are your next plans and are there any other words you’d like to share with our readers?
SE: I have plans to make more music videos, since I really enjoyed doing the first one. Probably my next video will be for “the Slut of Denmark,” and will either be out either in the spring or next Halloween.
SBN: Amazing, thank you for taking the time to chat with us Samantha!
Samantha Echo is not a singer who happens to wear fairy wings; she is a fairy who happens to sing. She was born in the Made-Up Place with Poison Skies (New York City, to you mortals) and began studying classical bel canto singing technique (opera) at the age of six. She currently studies pop and belting technique with Rosemary Loar. Echo’s music has been called “somewhere between dangerous and whimsy” (Jack Murray, Unknown Nobodies) Goldenboy Press declares that she is “not only a wonderful and eccentric musician, but a genius when it comes to performance art” and that “Her work evokes a strange feeling that will make you question everything.” Echo has an internship at Funkadelic Studios NYC and studies Anglo-Irish Literature at Hunter College, and is a licensed busker with the Music Under New York program. She has been featured on ABC World News, Arts in the City, the Atlantic Monthly, and the First Annual Buskers Carnival at the Players Club NYC.
Connect with Samantha Echo
