Samia Is Untouchable In Her Dual Release For “Hole In A Frame” and “Pants”
Samia is the gift that keeps on giving. The indie singer’s album rollout for her third album Bloodless has seen exponential traction already with singles “Bovine Excision” and “Lizard” being released in the last two months. She’s gone a step further for March, bestowing upon her fans a double feature with “Hole In A Frame” and “Pants” on the same day, expanding the Bloodless fantasy land to mystical heights.
The infamous hole Sid Vicious punched in a wall at Cain’s Ballroom in Oklahoma was Samia’s muse for “Hole In A Frame.” “And the drywall cracked / Like an autograph that endlessly appreciates,” she illustrates the scene in the Americana-esque tune. Its sonic shape feels light and airy, yet is anchored by a heavy fascination for absence. Where Sid’s legacy lingers in the chasms left by his fist, its longevity has left room for others to inspect and form opinions about the situation, and thus who he is. “[H]ole in a frame is about how presence can compromise the promises and possibilities of absence–unlike you, your lack only grows in value and mystery with time. [C]an be empowering to exist as an idea and leave enough gaps to be filled in by someone else,” she writes in an Instagram post about the song. Her study on negative space and self-perception seeps into her refrains of “A little death goes a long way,” right after she poses the striking ask of “Will you hold the onus?”
She crawls into the skin of a woman who calls herself by the same name in “Pants,” a six-minute-long staredown with herself and the reality of being alive. A conglomeration of Samia’s musical inspirations, album motif, and knack for experimentation explodes into one of her best tracks yet. Its subject is more than a cry out into the cosmos, but rather the grappling and understanding of an identity she learns morphs into something new daily. “Am I missing something? / Who was I when I bought these pants? / They’re non-refundable / Now I'm questioning everything I am” she mulls over amidst instrumentals that shimmer with an existential glow. While she alludes to an attempt at becoming weightless to escape reality, her line “Too then to be right now / I’ll trade the why for how” lands like an uppercut to a dissociating mind. Samia doesn’t shy away from the discomfort of existence, and it’s refreshingly haunting. A mellower tone blankets the latter portion of the track, as Samia softly hums her signature, sweet prose over delicate instrumentals.
“I paired these tracks because they capture opposite instincts,” she explains in an interview with Stereogum. “They move from a comfort in the possibilities of emptiness to the reality of existence.” The dichotomy of the two tracks enhances their respective themes all the more and speaks to who Samia is as an artist––someone who can express an exact feeling with the utmost eloquence and poise in her lyricism, yet also seethe with a blood vengeance in those same lines. The perfect picture of womanhood’s duality. Both tracks arrive with captivating visualizers directed by Sarah Ritter, starring Phoebe Voss and Fred Hechinger.
Be sure to listen to Bloodless, Samia’s third studio album, out on April 25th. You can also catch her on the USA & Canada Bloodless tour run beginning in May.
