Transcending with Samia at the TLA

Every time Samia comes to Philadelphia, she changes my life. This week it happened at the Theatre of Living Arts. In years’ past, it was at Union Transfer, or even at The Mann Skyline Stage when she shared a bill with Lucy Dacus and Courtney Barnett but was the only act to make it through a huge rain delay turned cancellation. This is the smallest stage I’ve seen her on, promoting Bloodless, an album that feels like her most confident body of work yet. When she plays it live, it creates a feeling of transcendence, taking the audience (myself included) away from the outside world and bringing us into the moment together.  Even though I’m older now, it was like I was in my early 20’s again seeing her for the first time.

Bloodless was released barely a month ago. It’s technically her fourth studio album, if you include the remix record of her debut The Baby. She played the whole album, split up by songs from her earlier works. Through most of her songs, a few things stay the same. Her lyricism is often hyper literal, interspersed with deeply cutting lines. Like in “Kill Her Freak Out” when she says “And when you get passive, I like to imagine / You listening to worship songs on your iPod / I’ve never been this bad / Can I tell you something? / I’ve never felt so unworthy of loving.” Samia often jumps from scenarios that are lofty, specific to her but vague to us, and then grounds herself with profound declarations of fear. 

In every show I’ve seen her at, her band has remained mostly the same, and I think that goes a long way for live performances. For this tour, she had Boone Wallace and Darryl Rahn on guitar, Ned Steves on bass, and Noah Rauchwerk on drums. Their camaraderie was palpable, the way they played off each other felt deeply natural. 

Samia’s family is no stranger to being featured in her music. So, when she came back on stage to kick off the encore with her 2020 song “Pool,” her dad, who was right behind me, took out his phone and started recording the introduction, which features the voice of her namesake, her grandmother. 

Samia is one of those artists whose releases always seem to coexist with major life moments. I can remember where in my life I was when I heard each album, cataloging the differences in Samia’s thoughts like I do my own. Her style hasn’t changed much over the years of her major releases, but it has gotten more refined, her ideas more fleshed out. 

Opener Raffaella prepped the crowd with her bubbly, poppy tunes and Samia-esque dancing. The influence they have on each other was clear; you could notice similarities in their stage presence and in their writing. Raffaella played a variety of new music and unreleased tracks, but the standout was hands down the song “GROWN UP.” Her vocals were impressive, her music was fun and danceable, and everyone in the crowd, including Samia herself, couldn’t look away.