Sam is one of England’s finest traditional musicians, however Escape That is his first entirely self-composed record. It ties together all of Sam’s musical passions; an honest and fearless expression of himself, combining pop hooks and aesthetics with his pioneering work in the world of traditional dance tunes. Escape That simultaneously presses the reset button on what a folk record should sound like while marking a major stride forward for Sam into the world of composition.

Written without ever touching the violin, Sam retreated to his attic during the lockdowns of 2020- 21 and created over twenty pieces of music for Escape That using synths and guitars, using snapshots of people and moments as inspiration in a time of isolation. He devised a way of writing where he’d lay down a chord sequence and then record an improvisation over the top. On listening back, anything that could be considered a hook would be kept, everything else was deleted and tracks developed by linking the hooks together to create dance tunes. Once each track was demoed, Sam translated the melodies back to the fiddle.