BY BRITTANY DANIELLE for WEEKLY VOLCANO 3/20/26 |
There is an overwhelming heaviness that we walk around with every day. It may seem like it piles on more and more, breaking our backs and causing our knees to buckle. The slightest inconvenience could tumble the strongest among us. With screens being bombarded with new ways to hate yourselves, political or spiritual reasons to hate others, sickness, hunger, war, neighbors isolated, living costs rising each way you look, and the epidemic of loneliness.
Have we forgotten how to be kind to each other? Have we forgotten what kindness even is? Or is it that we have fully lost empathy in the way that we respond to each other? Each comment on a post completely shielded from the reader’s response. No laughter, no tears, no eye contact, or ability to quickly reply in the moment. No cause and effect. No if-then. No consequences for words shared or actions taken. If we don’t like someone or something, we block it out with the simple touch of a button, a setting change, then poof, back to the safe place of isolation. It seems safer there.
But with all the loss we are all collectively experiencing, who do we turn to? And how do we get back to each other?
The sentiment that always comes to my mind is “You never know what someone is going through. Be kind.” I never liked that saying. But once I dove into what kindness is, versus politeness or niceness, kindness is the ultimate goal.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines “kindness” as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Kindness is character. It is self-caring, strong, thoughtful, considerate, even protective if necessary. It is a deliberate and vulnerable action for the care of others or for oneself. Kindness isn’t afraid of saying “no,” and it doesn’t people-please.
In this continued growing state of loneliness and negative overload, kindness is exactly what the human experience is lacking. Not for clout, posts, or likes, but for healing, community, and togetherness.
There’s nothing like loss or grief that will drive an artist to their medium. Many of them create alone and in the quiet hours of the night when the world is sleeping. While they download the information of the day, before another onslaught of the heavy mass that is today’s human existence silences the creative voice inside them, paralyzing them until silence arrives once more.
Sam Parker, a well-known member of the Pierce County music scene, is no stranger to writing from a place of loss, and this time alone.
His last album, Neolade, “was a full-band project released during the height of COVID. After spending the past few years putting out singles, I felt it was the right moment to return to a full album. The new record, As of Late, brings together songs I’ve written over the last couple years. As the title suggests, it reflects what I’ve been creating and exploring since my previous releases.”
This time around, “this upcoming album marks my first fully self-produced project, with every stage of recording, mixing, and production handled independently. All instruments and sounds were tracked in my home studio, reflecting both my technical growth and commitment to crafting a deeply personal, hands-on body of work.”
“One of the biggest challenges with this album was stepping into the role of doing everything myself for the first time. Taking on the full responsibility of recording, producing, and shaping the sound pushed me in ways I hadn’t experienced before. On top of that, I was working out of a home studio I’ve built up over the years. It’s a great space, but it’s far from perfect, so I had to get creative and work around its limitations. In the end, those constraints forced me to grow, problem-solve, and trust my instincts, which ultimately shaped the character of the record,” Parker continued.
Having lost his mother in April 2025, Parker has been exploring this new version of his life without her. Though some of the songs were written before this loss, there is a conscious thread tying the album together with consistent acknowledgments of the woman who brought him into the world, loved him, raised him, and supported him.
“My first single on this upcoming album is called ‘Mother, What Do You Think?’ I chose this song to introduce the album because it encompasses the tone of the entire project. I lost my mother in April 2025, and since then music has been my way of processing this new chapter of life. This single is one of many on the project that hints toward my mother.”
The first sentiment I noticed in the new single, dropping March 20, was Parker singing “please be kind to me.” Coupled with the cry of his pedal steel guitar and his sentiment of weariness, it felt like a core wound was being noticed. Each time the lyric is repeated, it changes feeling. At one time it may feel like a defensive demand, as if the listener does not know the weight of what he is carrying. Another time it comes off as a pleading moment, begging life for a break in the storm. Still another time it reads as a deal, like a pact being made with humanity itself.
“I hope listeners can relate to these songs in their own way. Each song means something to me, yet it may mean something else for another. That’s what I love about music. The majority of these songs were written in May 2025 when I traveled to Scotland, removing myself from the surroundings I know and exploring more of the world.”
