“To play the blues, you got to think blues… A tragic story to bring you over the top. Because that’s what you care about most.”
Recorded in six hours over two days at SubRosa in Santa Cruz, The Kidd Returns is the second full-length by freak folk artist Sam Empasis—and it’s a serious contender for stoner album of the week. As if it’s the long lost descendant of 60s experimenter Syd Barrett, the seemingly bare folk music here gets contorted and refracted through wild harmonica, unexpected studio effects, and the man’s meandering voice and song. Out now on Shallow Dive Records.