Audio By Carbonatix
Near the end of “According to Me,” the spirited opening track on Raise Your Flag, Sam Lee intones, “Turn it up and sing it like you mean it” — a reasonable demand, given Lee’s performance on the disc. Dude puts his money where his mouth is: He’s got some incredibly powerful vocal chops, and he belts with considerable conviction on each of the thirteen songs on the record, a followup to his 2011 EP, Better Half. The singer-songwriter says he’s got a rock-and-roll complex, and he eschews the sappy coffeehouse ballads you might expect for a much more rocking approach on most of these cuts. Fortunately, he’s also got a knack for penning upbeat, catchy tunes, as evidenced by songs like “Livin’ It Up,” “I’m Not Coming Home” and “Leaving Home.”
