Exclusive track premiere of ‘Barbed Wire’ by NY singer-songwriter Sam Kogon, taken from his forthcoming self-titled 4-track EP.

Kogon wrote and made demo recordings of these 4 news songs at home onto his 4-track tape recorder. The songs were then arranged with his band feat. Grennan Milliken on drums, James Preston on Bass, Graeme Gengras on keys, and Kogon on vocals and guitar.

“‘Barbed Wire’ is a song about accepting love, denying love, unrequited love, infatuation, and coming out of the closet. It’s inspired by two friends exchanging songs they write as coded love letters. One friend wants their love to come off the page and the other friend can only express their true feelings in song. Running away with or from someone who isn’t emotionally available can get you tangled in the barbed wire fences they put up at the first signs of vulnerability, so I chose that as the title of the song. The one friend trying to move forward is asking (rhetorically) “Is this love? Is this love? I need to know right now…and could you even tell me right now”. They already know the answer: Sometimes there isn’t a happy ending or closure; sometimes we get burnt like tires, and that’s ok.”

The EP was recorded and produced by John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile) at Stewart Lerman’s Hobo Sound Studios in Weehawken, NJ. His partnership with Agnello came about in a somewhat roundabout way. After coming off three self-booked US/Canadian tours, Kogon was cast as a featured extra in Martin Scorsese’s crime epic The Irishman as a backing musician for Jerry Vale, played in the film by Steven van Zandt. He hit it off with music supervisor Stewart Lerman and, after sending some demos along, received a recommendation for working with Agnello. The sessions were assisted by Jeremy Delaney and James Frazee. The songs were mastered by Steve Fallone (Arcade Fire, Angel Olsen, Big Theif).

Sam Kogon describes his new approach as that of an “Upstate country rockabilly crooner,” a sound he had once put off while playing in Brooklyn’s psychedelic scene.

Kogon lived and played in New York for several years, but nowadays lives in Westchester and spends more time in the Hudson Valley. He has always skewed a little older in his sensibilities, from an early affinity for Chopin and the Beatles to the session work he’s done with Al Jardine of The Beach Boys, fronting the 1960’s revived baroque pop group The Left Banke (‘Walk Away Renee’), and songwriting with Grammy Award nominee Patty Smyth. He has recorded two albums of psych-adjacent power pop, including 2016’s standout ‘Psychic Tears’ (Beyond Beyond is Beyond), which was co-produced by Kogon and Sam Owens (aka Sam Evian) and features a duet with Frankie Cosmos on the track ‘I Was Always Talking’. He is currently at work on a third with Kurt Vile and Dinosaur Jr. producer, John Agnello.

Headline photo: Jeff Mertz

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