Sam Trowbridge is an up-and-coming young singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist in Fort Wayne. 

Whatzup has been following him since he released a song online at the age of 17, on through his home-produced album of songs from 2022, The Painter, and his getting featured in the ALT 99.5FM/102.FM Homegrown Spotlight. 

Now, at 20, Trowbridge is preparing a new album for release on Dec. 15.

“The album’s called Existential Criticism,” Trowbridge said.

Whoa. A title like that might be a little off-putting. It’s not a formal philosophical inquiry, however. This is, rest assured, an album of catchy pop music. 

“It mostly consists of R&B, soul, indie rock, and just ‘alternative.’ There’s some feel-good stuff,” Trowbridge said.

Continuing to learn

What we have in Trowbridge is a young singer-songwriter in learning mode, studying his craft musically and evaluating himself and his stance in the world, lyrically. He’s writing songs about more than just cars and girls, but those topics would be welcome when they make an appearance.

It’s a quantum leap above his work on The Painter, which he recorded at home, singing and playing most of the instruments. While he still plays many of the instrumental parts on Existential Criticism, he now has the opportunity to record in professional and university studios and has brought in other musicians to collaborate.

After two years in the music school at Purdue University Fort Wayne, Trowbridge transferred to the music technology program at the University of Saint Francis. His studies are bearing fruit in his songwriting and arranging, which he is taking to the studio. 

“I’ve learned a lot,” he said. “I started playing bass and drums last year. I’ve been breaking songs apart. I think learning all those instruments and seeing how they work cohesively together in a band situation, that’s been nice. I’ve also been getting into arranging and composing, and I really like strings and brass. 

“I’m really just trying to wrap my head around it all because there’s a lot that I could say.”

Trowbridge asked me to put out the call: He’s looking for local artists and bands that he can engineer and produce.

You can listen to Trowbridge’s first album and a number of singles on streaming services, where he will also release Existential Criticism. 

He has a website which you can find at samtrowbridge.carrd.co and a page on Bandcamp, although he said, “I’ve been slacking on that.” He hopes to update them with more recent tracks and news.

It’s all love

He also has a YouTube channel, ProdbySamTrowbridge, with nine music tracks, including one with a live video of the recording session for “Late Night TV Show,” which will be on the new album.

“Late Night TV Show” is a good example of Trowbridge’s growing musical sensibilities. It’s a straightforward trio, recorded live in the studio, of Trowbridge on electric guitar, Dylan Butterfield on bass, and Austin Cottrell on drums. Trowbridge recorded his vocal on top, but there’s nothing electronic on this song. He built the song around interesting jazz chord voicings with a strong rhythmic feel. It shows how he’s learning and growing as a guitarist.

“Elevator Music,” on the other hand, is a light-hearted, psychedelic pastiche of sounds and ideas (featuring a turkey sandwich with too much mayonnaise) with layers of vocal harmonies. At scarcely more than a minute and a half long, it’s like a page from a musical sketchbook. 

“It was just a fun idea,” Trowbridge said. “I had kind of like a metaphor of just this feeling I had while I was on this experience: ‘Why am I waiting for things to happen?’ You just got to do things when you really want to go do things. 

“That led into the next song, ‘What Are You Waiting For?,’ which kind of explains that. The album talks a lot about questioning life, and things about life, but also putting a light on the love. That’s what matters most. And without that, it’s not much.”

‘I just have fun’

Trowbridge is particularly excited about debuting his new live band to perform the songs from the album. The band will feature Trowbridge on vocals and guitar, Butterfield on bass guitar, Christian Urizar on keyboards, Carlos Rosa on drums, Ashton Morris on saxophone, and Trevor Stirrat on trumpet.

Trowbridge tells us he’s hoping to organize a live concert with his new band to coincide with the release of the album.

Trowbridge is investing himself in getting an education in music and production. At this stage, it’s quite brave to put out albums of reflective, soul-searching music, all written and produced by him alone, that chronicle his journey.

“The plan is to just be an awesome jack of all trades in the music production,” Trowbridge said. “Sometimes, I step back and take a look from a bigger perspective. I could barely play ‘Dust in the Wind’ five years ago, but sometimes I put a lot of pressure on myself. It’s because I want to be — I just have fun making music. That’s why I do it. And I just want to get better at it so I can keep the adrenaline running.”