Jim And Sam’s ‘Space For The Stranger’ Out Now + LA Show Oct 13
October 1, 2022 BY Bailey Vigliaturo
Today, Los Angeles duo Jim and Sam return with their new EP, Space for the Stranger, which sees the pair congregate around wistful harmonies, intimate lyrics, and unshakable melodies as they journey into becoming parents for the first time during the height of the worldwide hiatus. “This EP is a testament to each other,” affirms Sam. “It’s a contract of, ‘No matter what, we are still going to show up for each other.’ We’re here, and we’re doing this.”
They will be celebrating the release of the EP with a special hometown show at LA’s Hotel Café on Thursday, October 13. Tickets are available HERE.
Jim and Sam have enchanted audiences with a series of fan favorite releases, including 2017’s This Is What’s Left EP and 2018’s Yeah Whatever Young Forever EP. Along the way, they shot After So Many Days, which chronicled a year straight of them playing one show a day for a year. Emerging as a film festival phenomenon, it took home “Best Music Documentary” at Nashville Film Festival 2020, “Audience Award” at Hell’s Half Mile Film & Music Festival 2019, “Special Jury Award” at DeadCenter FF 2020, and was an “Official Selection” at over 30 film festivals including Michael Moore’s Traverse City FF 2019.
As the world shut down, Jim and Sam continued writing. Around the same time, they found out Sam was pregnant. “The songs came from having the time to sit with our thoughts, each other, and the big life change that was about to happen to us,” muses Jim. “We’ve always been driven by playing live and connecting with people face-to-face. These songs were born out of a need to figure out a way to keep the ship sailing when there was no wind in sight.”
They prolifically wrote as they prepared for the biggest change in their lives. The birth of their daughter, Hazel, even inspired the title.
“Before she was born, we would call her ‘Stranger’,” smiles Sam. “We were literally creating space for her. We were making all of this room in our life for a person we hadn’t met yet. Her room used to be our studio, but we turned it into a nursery. The boiler room became the new studio, and that’s where we recorded the EP.”
They introduced the EP with the title track and a beautiful and intimate video to match. Watch/listen HERE.
In addition to the EP release, Jim and Sam also share a haunting visualizer for “House On Fire,” a track that weaves together delicate instrumentation with evocative vocals, glowing like embers of raw emotion. Watch/listen HERE.
With Space for the Stranger, Jim and Sam lean on each other and encourage listeners to lean on them. “These songs got us through a crazy transitional time,” she concludes. “I hope they speak to you when you need them.”
