Recommended Tracks: “Recover From,” “Hail Mary,” “I Don’t Wanna See You Try”
Artists You Might Like: Ashley Singh, Thomas Day, Abe Parker
The modern American life isn’t usually simple or easy, especially in today’s current climate. Rising alt-pop singer-songwriter Sam MacPherson from New Jersey is facing the contradictions and hardships of American life in the 21st century — and it’s filled with complications. Dealing with love, identity and longing, the American Dream is flawed for MacPherson on his first album, American Dream Trajectory. To prove that dealing with the ordinary in your hometown is mundane, the album is an exploration of Americana and everyday life.
The album opens with the title track, “American Dream Trajectory,” which deals with old wounds from the past haunting your present. It explores the desire to understand and heal with someone you love while dealing with unresolved trauma. MacPherson emphasizes the core theme of the album — how the past can distort your American Dream. He sings about “wearing a face of steel” while “still feeling it all,” and repeatedly asks, “Are you there right now?” — whether to confront the hard truth that someone is still stuck in the past or to find relief that they are burying themselves in the sand in the present. To find that person in a world fragmented by the American Dream is something MacPherson continues to explore on the guitar, rock-heavy “Brace For Impact,” where he learns what it feels like to love someone while the world is crumbling in front of him.
One of the first lead singles that began the American Dream Trajectory journey, “Run Baby Run” uses this metaphorical idea of stealing one’s identity and being in a high-speed chase to explore one’s disappointment. Trying to reinvent himself, MacPherson is forced to deal with the weight of regret that burns in his memory as he tries to escape his past by being someone else entirely. On it, he sings, “Shots ringing out / Watching as they light ’em up / There it goes, every hope to escape.”
MacPherson deals with the idea of death and giving up — being on the edge of disaster on “I Don’t Wanna See You Try” and “Church and State.” On “I Don’t Wanna See You Try,” he deals with raw desperation in a song with such delicate subject matter: suicide. With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, MacPherson is feeling helpless trying to support someone on the brink of crisis — and fighting not just for them, but with them, and at times instead of them. He moves toward this life-or-death situation on “Church and State,” about a man on the brink, his girlfriend and a woman named Mary. We see various institutional failures crumbling within the American Dream. In this track, he examines religious, governmental and medical institutions, and he’s ultimately caught between them all.
To prove to someone that there’s life on the other side, MacPherson emphasizes that there can be “Joy Again.” He sings about how the world didn’t end — “and you found instead joy again.” MacPherson continues moving through this journey, is determined to love someone who’s been deeply hurt and trying to say they you won’t be a source of pain for them on “Recover From.” The song is the perfect one to listen to with headphones on in your bedroom and leaves you captivated by the instrumental in a song that perfectly encapsulates MacPherson’s strong vocals, mesmerizing lyrics and honest storytelling. He sings, “Let me be all the way good for you / Not a crutch that turns into a wound.”
MacPherson takes a turn on the album, introducing some live versions of songs, including “Recover From – in Ashbury Park ” and “Love Is Always Bringing Me Down – Live.” The latter is a raw, emotional ballad that explores disillusionment with love. A song that seemingly is detached remains as intimate as ever, with MacPherson’s electric guitar guiding his vocals. He sings, “If it still has the punching power / Turn the rebels into cowards.” On it, he’s worn down by love’s repeated failures — a love that was once empowering is now something hard to swallow.
On the album’s last two tracks, MacPherson’s pain is especially evident on an album that very much so proves that the American Dream is not all it’s cracked up to be. “Hail Mary” plays on a symbolic call, which is a last-ditch plea for care, and in this case, also serves as an emotional punch to the heart. Deliberately heartfelt, it uses religious imagery to capture the idea of letting down someone who should have been there (“Does it feel spiritual letting me down like you do?”).
Grieving the living, MacPherson closes out his debut project with “Whatever You Are,” the longest song on the album, which feels like a letter to someone in crisis, as he closes the door on the American Dream for good (“American dream tucked under your arm / Whatever that means, whatever you are”). He finds someone has lost track of who they are in this everyday struggle called “adulthood” and what that actually means. We come to find that the American Dream is more of this grand tell-all tale that is something you follow without quite understanding its meaning, and ultimately, you’re left with this messy, lived-in album that deals with hope, crisis and even home life struggles. Trapped inside this figment of the American imagination, MacPherson hopes that the person they love will get out of this bubble — and maybe become someone they can stand to be — should you rebuild your own American Dream Trajectory.
Keep up with Sam MacPherson: Instagram // Spotify // X // TikTok // Facebook // Website
