To a growing group of those in the know, the name SamWoy evokes epic and exhilarating music that bends genres and smashes through the largely humdrum Canadian music landscape. Sam Woywitka is the mastermind behind the project, which has grown to encompass a collective of some of Montreal’s most dynamic musicians. In the words of the Québécoise alt-pop visionary Virginie B: “Sam's basically an all-encompassing hard-working music intuitive genius.”

Woywitka’s restless pursuit of auditory excitement pushes him towards ear-scorching innovation and deeply satisfying grooves and hooks. SamWoy tracks can’t be wrangled or pinned down, and are as likely to delve into ambient bliss and lush orchestration as they are to get torn apart by buzzsaw synths and distorted drums. On his sophomore album Even Sad Boys Like To Have Fun, SAMWOY again traverses new terrain, incorporating elements ranging from rap bars to baroque and classical instrumentation to an all-star choir of Montreal singers. Live, SamWoy is a high-wire act of dramatic shifts between bangers and beauty where all forms of emotion are embraced.

As an auteur in the mold of a Lynch or Tarantino, Woywitka’s body of work revisits recurring themes and preoccupations through shifting lenses and atmospheres. The mood often oscillates to euphoric highs, but pain is always right around the corner. The songs’ speakers are often either actively causing chaos or repenting for their sins. Many of the songs engage with Woywitka’s scrape with death in a near-fatal car accident in his tiny hometown on Vancouver Island right as he was transitioning into adulthood. The guiding principle across the songs is that depravity and redemption are both always within reach.

For SamWoy, nothing is off limits, sonically or lyrically, and there’s no end to his quest to craft beauty out of disaster: a poisonous poet pleading for peace. The project lives in world of contrast and entropy, with lyrics flickering between what’s fine and what’s fucked, also exemplified by the constant friction between elements of post-punk and electronica. For Woywitka, engaging with the textures of punk and metal music that inspired him in formative years offers a method of communication with his adolescent self, providing healing from his traumatic past and a ladder out of darkness. For the listener, bearing witness to Woywitka’s ability to use creativity as a life raft can be a powerful testament to the power of self-actualization through music.