Samantha Fish, Kansas City’s blues-rock titan, dropped Faster back in 2021, and though it’s taken us a hot minute to unpack this gem—blame life’s chaos—it’s more than worth the wait. This isn’t her grand entrance; Fish has been torching stages and bending strings for over a decade. But Faster? It’s a jolt of fresh fire, a record that crackles with restless energy and cements her as a genre-defying powerhouse. With her incredible voice slicing through like a switchblade, jaw-dropping guitar chops, and songwriting that’s honed to a razor’s edge, she’s not coasting on past glories. She’s shaking the earth beneath her boots.
Fish first blazed onto the scene with her 2011 debut Runaway, a raw, electrifying calling card that turned heads and won hearts. Since then, she’s stacked up milestones—Black Wind Howlin’ (2013), Wild Heart (2015), Belle of the West (2017)—each one pushing her sound further into the wilds of blues, rock, and roots. She’s a musical alchemist, pulling from Delta grit, ‘70s swagger, and Americana dust to forge something unmistakably hers. With Faster, released in September 2021, she cranks the dial, lacing her blues backbone with soul, funk, and garage-rock snarl—a sonic brew that’s bold, bruising, and downright addictive.
She’s flanked by a top-tier crew here. Drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’ Roses) hammers out beats with relentless precision, while bassist Diego Navaira (The Last Bandoleros) keeps the low end locked and loaded. Producer Martin Kierszenbaum—whose hands have shaped Sting, Madonna, and Lady Gaga—brings a glossy edge to the chaos, letting Fish’s raw power shine without sanding it down. It’s a perfect storm of talent.
The Highs
Faster is a chest of treasures, each track flashing a new shade of Fish’s brilliance.
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“Dream Girl”: The opener slinks in with a groove that hooks you deep, Fish’s sultry croon weaving through a rhythm that’s half seduction, half strut. Her guitar wails with a playful bite, and that chorus sticks like tar on your soul.
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“Love Letters”: A slow-burn stunner, this ballad bleeds tender ache and fragile beauty. Fish’s voice quivers with quiet power, threading through mournful guitar lines that hang in the air like a sigh. It’s haunting, and it hits hard.
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“Faster”: The title track is a full-on war cry, a liberation anthem fueled by a relentless beat and Fish’s snarling vocals. Her guitar slashes like a lightning bolt—pure, uncut adrenaline.
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“Crowd Control”: This is Fish unbound—raw, rowdy, and roaring. The riff lands like a sucker punch, and her solo’s a Molotov cocktail of fury and finesse. It’s the sound of a woman claiming every inch of the room.
The Lows
Faster isn’t flawless—a couple of tracks lean too cozy into blues-rock comfort zones. They’re not throwaways (Fish could make a phonebook sing), but they lack the wild spark that ignites the album’s peaks. Still, these dips barely ripple the surface of an otherwise killer ride.
Her gifts go beyond the obvious. Sure, her slide guitar could melt steel and her fingerpicking feels like a secret whispered in the dark, but it’s that voice—velvet one moment, venom the next—that seals the deal. It shifts from a smoldering blues drawl to a rock howl that could strip paint, carrying every note with bone-deep feeling. And her songwriting? It’s grown teeth, spinning stories that gut you and melodies that cling like shadows.
Faster, unleashed in 2021 and finally getting its due here, is Samantha Fish at her most unbound—a testament to an artist who’s been blazing trails for years and still has gas in the tank. Tracks like “Dream Girl,” “Love Letters,” “Faster,” and “Crowd Control” are instant classics, balancing her road-worn roots with a hunger for what’s next. A few cuts play it safer than they should, but they’re blips in a record that roars with grit and grace. Fish isn’t just holding her ground—she’s redrawing the map, and Faster is proof she’s worth every second of the wait, even if we’re late to the party.
