Stage Presence: Sam Billen

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Sam Billen’s new album may shock some of his long-time fans with its new sounds, but he hopes listeners can approach his music in the same way he does: with an open mind.

A jack of all musical trades since age 7, Billen dabbles in many different musical instruments — including guitar, harmonica and mandolin — and genres — such as Americana, pop and soul. “I like to challenge myself by trying new genres that I don’t think I’d be good at,” Billen says. “And, honestly, sometimes I’m not good at it at all. But it’s fun.”

Contributed photo

Playing it eclectic: Local singer/songwriter Sam Billen has dabbled in guitar, harmonica and mandolin, composed for documentaries and has an album coming out next month.

Formerly a member of The Billions, who played their final performance last April, Billen recorded his first album — a tribute to his mother called Death of a Saint — in 2000 and followed it with Miracles in 2004. Now with Kansas City label The Record Machine, Billen recently recorded a group of songs called “The Tokyo Sessions” while on vacation in Japan with his family and has also been working on soundtracks for local documentaries.

Billen plays all of the instruments on his latest endeavor, Headphones and Cellphones, which he has been recording for the past year at his home in Lawrence. He describes the sound as somewhere between The Postal Service and The Republic Tigers, with some electronic influences and some banjo and analog sounds as well. “But not techno,” he assures me.

Headphones and Cellphones will be released in October. Fans can keep up with his many different directions by following him on Facebook.

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