Aside from the simple fact that Samuel Ford is a songwriter from London, we don’t know all that much about a guy who's online track history takes us back three years to ‘The Storm’, and later 2016 releases ‘This Is A Waltz’ and ‘Kings’. We have a certain feeling that his own musical existence dates back even further than that from the sound of this wonderfully accomplished piece of alternative pop magic on ‘Medicine’. A poultice for the soul; this song stretches for almost four and a half minutes, slowly warming as the epic arrangement comes into play. From humble beginnings with an acoustic guitar, various string instruments seep into the song, bleeding into each other to become one in “soaring elocution”, as Ford himself implies. Later a drum beat comes in to provide marching percussion, emphasising the narrator’s personal battle. Of course, the instrumentation is superb - often joyful and triumphant, but also mournful and reflective. However, it wouldn’t be right to leave without commenting on Ford’s dynamic vocal, which exercises pop melodies, indie-rock strainings and a natural tarnish, which in a world of auto-tune makes his emotion appear close enough to touch. - HT