“My first memory of vinyl is a vivid one.”
“If I’m honest I was actually going through a somewhat turbulent time back then. Family stuff. My father was spending long periods away from home with his work, without delving into the finer details there was an ‘atmosphere’ in the house put it that way. Me and my sisters were starting to notice the cracks forming between our parents. I remember being in bed one night, I hadn’t seen dad come home but I always knew he was when heard his record player.
I remember the song to this very day, “Sweet Thing’ by Van Morrison from—which subsequently became—one of my favourite albums of all time Astral Weeks. I remember the comfort it brought me hearing that sound, it felt like everyone was were they should be, it was like the floorboards of my bedroom would suddenly relax and the walls took a long sigh of relief. I felt a warmth around me. One that was missing for too long through my childhood.
He’d play it over and over again, sometimes lifting the needle to skip a track. I remember trying to work out what those first lines of the song meant every time they played it: “I will stroll the merry way and jump the hedges first.” I can’t be sure, even now, but to me they meant dad was home, and regardless of the problems we all had, we were there together, under one roof.
Every time I play a record at home now, I feel that way. “Home” has been an alien notion to me for such long periods in my life, but that crackle and fizz and unparalleled beauty will always soothe that pain—and my collection just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”
—Samuel Jack
“In My Head,” the new single from Samuel Jack, shines a light on the importance of recognising and helping others with mental health issues, as it can happen to anyone at anytime. “Fuck the stigma. We’re not all crazy, we just struggle inside sometimes,” expresses Jack. “In My Head” is the musician’s way of venting about his frustrations and hopes that it may be of comfort for others, reminding them that they are not alone and we are all in this together. “In My Head” is in stores now.
