Concert Review: Samia and Hank Heaven at the Historic Scoot Inn

On Sept. 12, folk powerhouses Hank Heaven and Samia captivated attendees with a two-hour odyssey of energetic and spellbinding music.

Written by Zachary Bolash

Photo by Zachary Bolash, edited by Mckenna Sefcik

Samia, an alt-pop artist and musician behind the trending song “Pool,” has recently charted on her ‘Bloodless’ tour. This weekend, she stopped by the historic Scoot Inn with opener Hank Heaven on the southwestern leg of her tour.

At 7:31 p.m., opener Hank Heaven disrupted a critical mass of Austinites—young men wearing Deloitte t-shirts & khaki pants, doobie-smoking cowboy geriatrics, and ethereally dressed concertgoers—with an energetic swing. Their opening track, “Call Me Hank,” had a slicing country twang combined with an irresistibly folky timbre and bass that resonated in the hollow of your chest, as if the strummed acoustic guitars knocked your heart out of socket. As the track faded with the declarative “You can call me Hank,” frontwoman Hank Heaven assumed the stage to announce that everything in Austin reminded her of her.

Heaven then asked the crowd if they “simped for someone, but they were super mean,” as an introduction to the track “Designer Dog.” With the backdrop of a roaring audience and psychedelic guitar strings, Heaven exclaimed, “Quick with it, she gives it right back / Made me a video and filmed it on her iPad.” The song charted more slowly than the ambitious track, “Call Me Hank,” however, as Heaven reached the pre-chorus where she somberly stated that she wished to become a “rodeo clown” and “designer dog you can take around town” for her lover, the track picked up the tempo. By the track’s conclusion, the once-tame tune that bemoaned the mistreatment of a lover had transformed into a wall-of-sound blending chirpy percussion, irresistible folk guitar strings, and occasional Stereolab-sounding beeps from a synthesizer. Hank Heaven then rounded out her set and performed an unreleased song, “Threads,” where she jibed that “the audience better like it because it has already been studio recorded.” The song consisted of a fusion between country lyricism, jazzy tempos, and a dab of soul as Heaven belted that she “wants to be good for you, baby.”

Upon a heat-soaked crowd of local Austin music nerds, Heaven gave kudos to Samia and her band by stating that Samia’s set “is so good that it is healing” before ending her 30-minute set. Samia's fans and indiscriminate concertgoers mouthed to each other that the opener “fucked” with a few who straggled to the merch table to buy Hank Heaven t-shirts. 

Thirty minutes later, the Scoot Inn’s strobe lights shorted and lightbulbs of headless lamps lit the stage as members of Samia’s band took the stage. Alongside the yelps and cheers of fans, the image was almost liturgical and set the scene for the ethereal Samia to take stage and lead with “Triptych,” where the singer howled, “Keepin’ you awake, keepin’ you awake on purpose / Hey did I make a mistake and do my mistakes worsen?” 

While Samia started on a poignant note, the songstress jolted sonic electricity into the crowd with the track “Dare.” The band’s percussion and bass thumped alongside the candid and confrontational lyrics of “I think you wanted me to feel it / Because you know we’re the same.” To round out her leading tracks, Samia then started up the folky track “Fair Game” as she busted a jig while she sang, “You won’t get your blood back.”

After the track faded, Samia shyly introduced herself and her bandmates before smoothly transitioning to the track “Bovine Excision,” which evoked a nostalgic image of the countryside: “Diet Dr. Pepper, Raymond Carver / Sitting in the Bathtub while they’re knocking.” The simple track was counteracted by the more contemplative and introspective melody “Big Wheel,” where the singer-songwriter recalled her life to an audience of fans: “I got coffee in the morning / And my mama in the night / And I got bad news, but I didn't fight it.” The audience was equally reverential and opted for head-nods rather than occasional cheers or whistles.

Samia continued to captivate the audience’s attention with “Kill Her Freak Out,” a track that employed an organ-sounding synthesizer and conveyed a feeling of a religious rite with lyrics like, “worship songs on your iPod.” However, near the track’s completion, Samia and her band sonically exploded, vowing that she “[Hopes] you marry the girl from your hometown / And I’ll fucking kill her / And I’ll fucking freak out.”

By the end of Samia’s set, it had felt like Samia, her band, and Hank Heaven had strung fans on an odyssey of folk, country, and a new take on worship music. Perhaps the most fitting end to such an ambitious and sonically comprehensive setlist was stately named “Pants.” “Pants” mixed the ethereal and fleeting guitar strings of folk music, the contemplative and meditative pace of worship music, and the bluesy, down-on-your-luck lyrics of country to create a mesmerizing listening experience. And as Samia delivered the final, heartwrenching lines, “It’s sharp, it’s sad, it’s loud / Too then to be right now / I’ll trade the why for how,” a breeze sliced through the crowd, lifting cheers upwards towards the grandstand, and ultimately rounded out a fantastic showing of lyrical and instrumental virtuosity.