Last year, British singer-songwriter Sam Johnson made his mark with two gently stirring songs ‘Perfect Circle’ and ‘Way Back Home’, which reflected on the past with a deep, longing nostalgia. On the flipside, ‘Medicine For My Brain’ rushes the listener into the present day with an urgency we haven’t heard from Johnson before. The track opens with a foot-tapping rhythm, reliable acoustic guitar and Johnson’s notably unique voice. After around thirty seconds of this withdrawn introduction, it’s apparent that the songwriter can’t hold back any longer and he bursts out with “I’m so goddamn sick these days.” This moment is accompanied by layers of sampled vocals, hand claps, and emerging synths. So what’s all this ruckus about? Well as you may detect in lines like “Everybody’s got a soul that’ they’ll happily sell away, / Everybody wants to sound the same, / Everybody wants a slice of the same cake,” Johnson is rallying against uniformity, standardization, sameness in the music industry. Here the songwriter reveals more: “I was very jaded at one point, I wanted to write a chorus which is basically saying I don’t give a damn about the industry - which is ironic because that’s the very song that got me signed.” Looking ahead, Sam Johnson is confirmed to support Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard at the Big Indie Summer Sessions in conjunction with the Line Of Best Fit on 31st July at Pop Brixton and ahead of that will be performing at Barn On The Farm festival Sat 6th July. - Hannah Thacker