Love songs take many forms: they document new love, lost love, unrequited love. What often goes unacknowledged is the day-to-day practice of choosing to showing up for the loved one, even if a person is not sure if the love is returned. In ‘This is Where I Want to Be’, the title track of the new EP from Sydney indie-folk/Americana artist Sam Newton, our protagonist expresses uncertainty about being loved but offers love regardless. And this is love found in the details: ‘Do you need some time alone? If so, I’ll take the long way home’; ‘Tell me, would you leave the light on for me?’ It’s an acknowledgement that both love and uncertainty around it are in those details, and both lead Newton to conclude ‘this is where I want to be’.
Newton has three albums, an EP and assorted singles behind him, and that experience shows in this single – which is having its premiere here today. ‘This is Where I Want to Be’ is full of yearning mixed with a hint of confusion, delivered sweetly thanks to some lovely pedal steel. We hope for a good outcome for this love story, even as the song itself suggests that there may not be one. And we will never know.
Listen to ‘This is Where I Want to Be’ by Sam Newton
The EP – which evokes Lemonhead’s It’s a Shame About Ray and James Taylor as much as it feels like it belongs in the right-here-right-now – features several memorable tracks including the mini-epic ‘The Year of the Rabbit’. Says Newton of the six-track selection:
‘It’s the culmination of a period where I’ve taken full control over the production process—mixing every track myself and having a heavy hand in shaping the songs from conception to delivery. It’s been a deeply personal and hands-on experience, and releasing these songs as part of an EP feels like giving them the context and home they deserve, something that standalone singles couldn’t quite achieve. It’s my way of fully serving the music and honouring the journey that brought these songs to life.’
https://samnewton.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-where-i-want-to-be
