The album cover of Reverie, by Samantha Mae, 2025.
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| Singer and songwriter Samantha Mae |
Samantha Mae is a Vermont-based singer/songwriter who just released Reverie, her first full-length album earlier this year. Reverie gathers 8 original songs written by Samantha Mae. She’s a strong songwriter, and Reverie takes the listener through many different musical moods. Samantha Mae also has a fantastic, flexible voice that has elements of country, folk, and pop within it.
The title song is a beautiful meditation on the loss of a loved one. Samantha Mae sings, “I’ve spent too many years/Chasing the ghost of you/And all I have to show is your old perfume.” That’s such a fantastic line, and Samantha’s voice gets the emotion of the song across.
“My, My Baby Goodbye” is a catchy, up-tempo song about starting over in a new city. “Thinkin’ I might stay in this town just for fun/Just to see what my life could be,” Samantha sings, as she leaves an old relationship behind.
“She’ll Know” is a fantastic break up song that details a toxic relationship. One of my favorite lines in this song is “You were a temporary high/and I’ve broken the bridge leading back to you.” Samantha’s voice has such power on this track.
“Through with It” is a rollicking song that has a strong country flavor, and it features an excellent teasing, taunting vocal. Samantha makes it clear that she is tired of the toxic masculinity this guy has to offer, as she sings on the chorus, “Get out, get over it/You can’t even call this quits/Cause we weren’t even something worth a mention/And I’m through with it.”
“Porch Light” shows off the lower range of Samantha’s voice nicely. It’s another excellent song, about finding love and sticking with it. Samantha Mae’s lyrics are thoughtful and heartfelt, and free from cliches. “Through all the years of my mistakes/I never made it easy for us to make it/But darlin’ we made it/The best damn story that we’ll tell to our children/Under that porch light.”
“Keep You Happy” is a song about loss and saying goodbye. It has a bittersweet flavor, and the music still has a bounce to it, even though the lyrics are melancholy.
“Time” is a lovely song, a slow ballad that finds the narrator worried that she’s “runnin’ outta time...pullin’ rope every day with the Devil/Nothin’ heard and nothin’ said.”
“Mosaic” has a harder rock sound than the other songs on the album. Samantha sings about “Tension, tension builds and choir sounds/Conducting a catastrophic blow/To fuel my rage as I explode.” It’s a fantastic song, and a really strong song to end the album with.
Reverie is an album with no weak songs. The production on Reverie is superb, with each song having a distinct sound and feel, and yet there’s a cohesion to the album as well. The variety of songs that Samantha Mae has written is really amazing. I’m impressed with her range as a songwriter, especially for a debut album. Samantha Mae is also a superb singer, and it’s easy to imagine her interpreting songs from many different genres. Reverie is an outstanding piece of work, and I’m looking forward to what Samantha Mae does next.
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