biographical info
I started working at a gas station towards the end of high school. I worked outside—for the most part—during the summer and winter. I had an 'office' the size of a mall photo booth with a little floor heater that would be cranked in the dead of december. When the lot was empty I would sit in this 4 x 4 glass booth with a chair, a little stereo, and one of those old manuel credit card machines and just think while the gas pumps begged for customers. I was figuring out a lot of things at that age, and these periods of isolation forced me to confront whatever was going on in my mind. Through these quiet, woolly, winter nights—usually while listening to Jason Collett, Peter Elkas, and Joel Plaskett—I began to write the songs you hear on this record. – Sam Cash October 2011
Growing up immersed in the Toronto music scene due to the profession of his parents, Sam Cash began writing songs at a very early age. Particularly drawn to lyrics and melody, Sam Cash's debut album “Teenage Hunger” is full of compassion, imagery and artistic observations about the world around him. Written while working at a gas station in downtown Toronto while finishing high school, this is a strong debut record from the next generation of Canadian songwriters. Cash's attention to detail, humour and honest vocal delivery is what sets him apart. “Teenage Hunger” was produced and recorded by Dave Clark (The Woodshed Orchchestra, Gord Downie and the Country of Miracles) and features some stellar playing by Neil Quin (Zeus), Afie Jurvanen (Bahamas), Josh Finlayson (Skydiggers), Serena Ryder and Hayden as well as contributions from Cash's close circle of musical friends and accomplices, many of whom he first met in high school. This support from the Toronto music community is part of what makes this record special. Just listening to it, one can feel the love and camaraderie that went into the making of it.
"Sam Cash's songwriting captures a youthful angst, filtered through a compassionate eye... confident, natural use of simple, eloquent language that you'd expect from someone with many more years behind them" --Hawksley Workman
"Cash has an... appealing, vocal style, but it's the strong melodic sense he shows that catches the ear, as on the plaintive "What I'm Missing" and the snappy, Kinks-like "Broadview Bridge." This is a very promising beginning." --Kerry Doole, Exclaim Magazine
"Cash uses sweet metaphors and verbose lyrics that are relieved by his unique phrasing and sparse accompaniment" --Gillian Turnbul, No Depression