''But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted'' is the first album of songs by experimental folk artist

Sam Amidon Samuel Tear Amidon (born June 3, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Early life Amidon's parents are folk artists Peter Amidon and Mary Alice Amidon. They were members of Bread and Puppet Theater in the 1970s ...

, going under the name Samamidon. The album was produced by Thomas Bartlett. It was initially released in 2007 by

Plug Research Plug Research is an independent record label, based in Los Angeles, California, US. Created by Allen Avanessian in 1994, the label specialized in IDM, folktronica and experimental music. The label began with young artists that have made its repu ...

in the US and Birdwar in Europe, and was reissued by

Omnivore Recordings Omnivore Recordings is an independent record label founded in 2010. It specializes in historical releases, reissues and previously unissued vintage recordings, as well as select releases of new music, on CD, vinyl and digital formats. Omnivore R ...

in 2015.

Background and recording

At the time of recording, Amidon was living in New York City and playing in the experimental

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

bands Doveman and Stars Like Fleas. The album was recorded at Bartlett's home in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

, where Amidon then lived. Bartlett and Amidon had been friends since childhood and had played music together since a young age, as teenagers in the

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

folk group Popcorn Behaviour, and later in Bartlett's indie rock band Doveman. The material drew from traditional American public domain

folksongs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has bee ...

, reworked by Amidon, as well as a spare reading of the

Tears For Fears Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath in 1981 by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the synth-pop bands o ...

song "Head Over Heels."

Release and reception

''But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted'' was released in 2007 on the Los Angeles-based

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

label

, featuring cover art drawn by Amidon with colours by Gabriel Greenberg. The song "Tribulation" was featured in a music video directed by Bartlett's brother Ezra Caldwell. The album received positive notices from critics and blogs, with Stylus Magazine calling it "the most interesting folk album of 2007" and Angry Ape saying "''But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted'' is undoubtedly as engaging a sonic experiment as any you'll hear this year."Spirit Store – Music, Venue, Gigs, Comedy, Pub, Drink & Craic
/ref>

Track listing

# "Falsehearted Chicken" – 5:05 # "True Born Sons of Levi" – 4:00 # "Interlude" – 0:50 # "Head Over Heels" – 3:11 # "1842" – 5:01 # "Another Man Done Gone" – 2:35 # "Louis Collins" – 4:47 # "Roll On John" – 2:54 # "Rocky Island" – 2:48 # "Tribulation" – 5:58 # "Oh Where" – 3:00

Personnel

: vocals,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, acoustic guitar *Thomas Bartlett: Piano, Drums, Guitar, Electric Guitar,

Accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

, Organ,

Omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It allows users to play distinctive harp-like arpeggios produced through an electronic strum plate, simulating the experience of ...

*Produced and mixed by Thomas Bartlett *Mastered by Charlie Pilzer at Airshow Mastering

References

External links

Dusted FeatureYoutube: Tribulation
{{Authority control 2007 albums Omnivore Recordings albums Sam Amidon albums Plug Research albums