Sam Barber - Music for the Soul (2025) Hi-Res

A mission statement for a young star’s fast-blooming artistry. Though he first found fame through his viral hit “Straight and Narrow”, Sam Barber proves he’s anything but a flash in the pan on this EP, which follows his 2024 full-length debut Restless Mind. Anchored by another hit, “Man of the Year”, the seven-song collection charts a formative time period for the 22-year-old Barber, whose whirlwind rise to fame began in his late teens and is chronicled on Restless Mind.

Picking up where that album left off, Music for the Soul opens with its title track, which seems to serve as a mission statement for Barber’s blooming artistry as he sings, “Well, I know this ain't the bar song you wanna hear, but I make music for the soul.” “Nowhere Fast” is soulful and searching, as Barber tries on heartland rock to make sense of the major life changes he’s experienced in recent years, while songs like “Dust and Smoke” and “Same Sad Shit” play off the early-2010s-inspired folk-rock sound that first earned him notoriety.