By David O’Neill
Samantha Martin And Delta Sugar have always sounded like a band with one boot in the church and the other in the backroom bar, and ‘A Beautiful Buzz’ bottles that tension beautifully. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Etta James, Sharon Jones and Joe Cocker all turned up for the same late-night revival, this gets perilously close.
Recorded during the ‘Love Is All Around’ tour of western Canada in 2022, having been delayed several times and eventually going ahead at the at the end of the COVID pandemic and with Martin six months pregnant, the album captures a group operating with the loose, communal charge of a real live unit rather than a studio-polished facsimile.
Martin’s voice carries the same kind of hard-earned authority that invites comparisons to Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner, but there’s also a road-worn, modern grit in her delivery that keeps things from tipping into tribute act territory.
The opening stretch is all swagger and uplift, with ‘Love Is All Around’ and ‘Don’t Have To Be’ channelling gospel-infused soul in a way that nods toward Mavis Staples without ever feeling derivative. ‘You’re The Love’ and ‘Good Trouble’ add muscle and momentum, the latter especially landing with the kind of horn-blasted confidence you’d expect from a band who know exactly how to work a room.
Elsewhere, ‘The Shape I’m In’ and ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ lean into that grizzled, rootsy Americana pulse, while ‘Them Changes’ brings a funkier edge that recalls the sweaty punch of Buddy Miles at his most incendiary. By the time they reach ‘Loving Cup’, the whole thing feels less like a set list and more like a communion.
‘A Beautiful Buzz’ doesn’t just document Samantha Martin’s live power; it underlines why she belongs in the same conversation as the great soul-shouting heavyweights.
- ‘A Beautiful Buzz‘ is out now.