Sam Buckingham’s quiet revolution

Byron-based singer/songwriter Sam Buckingham is touring her new EP Quiet Revolution nationally and will play The Citadel in Murwillumbah on March 22.

The acoustic collection of songs explores radical self-expression, resisting the urge to please people, and trusting oneself to embrace boundaries; it is her most raw and revealing work yet.

Quiet Revolution explores Buckingham’s process of reassessing her life and drastically shifting priorities. Her emotions are candid in lyrics such as “I let go of the need to please people who wouldn’t even grieve if I were dead”.

“I turned 40 and started counting up the time I’d spent trying to be someone that I’m not and create success by other people’s measures,” Buckingham said.

“All of a sudden, I understood what that had cost me, and I knew I didn’t want to spend the next 40 years doing the same thing.”

Buckingham has performed at Woodford, Wild Village and Queenscliff Music festivals and toured with the Festival of Small Halls, Paul Kelly, Katie Noonan, Tim Freedman, The Whitlams, Kasey Chambers and Ben Lee.

Kate Miller-Heidke has praised her “masterful songwriting”, and Fanny Lumsden described Buckingham’s music as “raw and full of power which somehow allows the gentle to shine through”.

The critics are equally positive. Bernard Zuel said the work was powerful and “the plain-spoken piano of this EP hides nothing”. The Courier Mail said she was “Byron Bay’s next big thing”.

Buckingham describes a quiet revolution as a powerful, internal process that completely shifts the course of one’s life.

“You’re challenging your internal beliefs and patterns every day and doing the unglamorous work to build a better life for yourself – on your own terms,” she said.

“I see it as an important act of self-love and selflessness. The ripple effect of one person truly empowering herself is huge”.

The two-part concert will feature songs from her older and unreleased catalogue in the first half, with the second set travelling through new songs from Quiet Revolution and her two previous releases, Dear John (2022) and Cyclone (2023).

Five dollars from each Something More T-shirt sold goes to the Mullumbimby District Neighbourhood Centre’s Women’s Resource Service.

For tickets to the intimate solo concert, head to events.humanitix.com/sam-buckingham-ajjqgwt4