SAMANTHA SAVAGE SMITH is, to put it very simply, a singer-songwriter from Calgary, Alberta, but few things are ever simple. To put it more complexly – which is to say accurately – she's also a multi-instrumentalist, producer, concert curator, and co-producer of her last seven music videos. Her new album is called Little Place, and it's a collection of nine songs that clearly displays her desire to craft honest, thoughtfully constructed pop songs with a compelling and original sonic stamp. Along with her bandmates – drummer/producer Chris Dadge (Chad Van Gaalen, Alvvays), and multi-instrumentalists Brock Geiger (solo) and Nate Waters (Eye of Newt) – she has come up with her most sharply rendered and engaging album to date.

Smith began her career at the beginning of the '10s with the release of her debut album Tough Cookie. It was produced by legendary Calgary producer and songwriter Lorrie Matheson, and instantly won her an audience that was clearly enthralled by her startling, at times jazz-inflected vocal prowess and songs such as “The Score” and “Devilman”, which were as catchy as they were wise beyond their years. Through the sessions for Tough Cookie, she met drummer Chris Dadge, who has remained a key collaborator ever since. That album was followed by the more sonically streamlined and structurally adventurous album Fine Lines in 2015, which was a co-production between Matheson, Smith, and Dadge.

After a short break playing guitar and bass in other people's bands (like Lab Coast, Child Actress, and Crystal Eyes) and a brief pandemic hold-up, she released Fake Nice in 2022. That album, which features contributions from Scott Munro (Preoccupations), Ian Jarvis (Reuben & The Dark, Chairs) and Ryan Bourne (Plant City Band, Ghostkeeper), was the first to see Smith fully take the reigns as a co-producer, alongside Dadge at his burgeoning Child Stone Studios (home to albums by Eye of Newt, Hermitess, Stucco, Shy Friend, and Jom Comyn). The ability to work out of a home studio afforded the two much time for experimentation; the result was a kaleidoscopic album of some of Smith's strongest songs to date, and was praised by Exclaim! as “an excellent album whose shimmering surface reveals deeper, refracting depths in questions of person and place.”

The music on Little Place is the logical next step in this evolution, and this outing additionally carries the benefit of the Smith, Dadge, Geiger, and Waters unit having spent nearly five years playing shows across Canada and the UK, and building up an excellent studio rapport. During this time, Smith also hosted a year's worth of concerts during which she not only laid bare her own works in progress, shaping them into what you hear on this album, she also welcomed other songwriters to take similar risks with their music, creating an addictively unpredictable and intimate concert experience. All of these factors and experiences coalesced in the writing and recording sessions for her new album.

Little Place traverses a winding, eclectic, and expertly produced set of songs, featuring glowing synthesizer environments and perfectly dialled guitar tones combined with texturally inviting, Portishead-esque programming and melodic, rubbery bass parts. Sitting atop, as always, is Smith's instantly recognizable voice, both as a singer and a composer, presenting her most sonically refined and emotionally nuanced set of songs to date.

Stream, or purchase Little Place on Bandcamp, and keep an eye out for live dates to come.