by      

Evelyn McSpirit

Newcomer Sam Pine has released his debut album Evergreen, and it's definitely one of our favorites just released.

As with so much music being released at the moment, the 22-year-old producer and singer-songwriter was influenced heavily by the sudden life changes due to the pandemic, but his perspective comes from having relocated from Los Angeles back home to Denver because of the realities many musicians faced when the industry essentially shut down for more than a year.

The album was largely written from his childhood bedroom during quarantine, exploring episodes of anxiety during a social revolution, relationship challenges and the introspective thoughts of a young person coming up in a very strange time.

"I had relationships that felt very tested and at some points exposed," says Pine, speaking of the song "Why Can't U?," which appears on the album. "This pandemic really had some harsh truth and the hook of the song asks whoever listens or—at least in my perspective—the girl I was seeing, 'Why cant you be the one for me?' It's that classic long-distance narrative but with my own spin."

While the record is largely hard to pin down into one particular genre, it experiments with a wide range of sounds, at times rich, soulful and earnest, at other times more playful and skittering. There are flickers of Still Woozy and Bloc Party, with standout tracks being "Can't Help This!," "Slow Burn," "New to This" and "Full Send."

Hear the full album below.