Sam Weber - Everything Comes True (2019)

Sam Weber writes songs that dig deep into internal spaces while breaking free of static geography. Claiming this record to be at once his most personal and least independent — a score of collaborators, including producer Tyler Chester, helped him find the sound he needed in a limited time span — Weber finds grandness in frustration and movement.

This is not to say that place is not essential to Everything Comes True. If anything, location takes a central position on Weber's fourth album, which pulls from experiences across America. Take the dangerous guitar glimmer of "Probably Not," which critiques the atmosphere of Los Angeles while late-night reflecting, or the soft iterations within "Mendocino," an ode to New York, Indiana and California. Here, a guitar tune even tilts toward the American anthem.

It's not a lack of place that exists within Weber's music, but a surpassing of geography-based expectations. Living in BC's North Saanich, Weber is able to pull from travel and experiences recording in Los Angeles, creating a grandness in his Americana compositions.

Throughout, the album can be danceable, candid or jumpy. Horns shine like a spotlight on "Obligated," creating a loaded contrast to softer ballads like the rich "Avenir." What remains is a country angle with smart shifts and unifying repetitions that pull away from the occasionally over-glossed mixing.

Sparkling with production clarity at some moments and humbly gentle in others, Everything Comes True manages to create a nostalgic blend of country and Americana, riding through late nights towards West coast forests all the while.