A Chat with Calico Sun (12.08.2026)
With his album Cosmic Revelations, Sam Bahman, the man behind Calico Sun, unleashed a concept album that was never meant to be a concept album. With tracks written over a number of years, he explores a single theme through different lenses. Packed with psychedelic rock tones, the album blends progressive rock with psychedelia and modern indie influences for an engaging sound. We had the chance to chat with Sam about the album, the music video for one of the tracks, his creative process and much more!
OSR: You’ve recently released your first full-length album, Cosmic Revelations. What made you decide to record and release the album under Calico Sun?
Sam: Calico Sun is a project I’ve been developing for a few years now. It came about after spending over a decade playing in bands in the Boston music scene. I wanted to experiment and see if I could operate a solo music project entirely on my own.
The name Calico Sun actually came to me years before I decided to turn it into a project. One morning, I was getting ready for work and noticed my cat lying in a sunbeam. I remember thinking that she got to spend her whole day relaxing there while I had to leave and go to work. With some jealousy for my cat’s idyllic lifestyle, I thought about how nice it would be to just relax in the sun all day, do what I wanted, make music, and not have a care in the world.
Unfortunately, we don’t get that luxury as humans, but that moment stuck with me. When I eventually started this project, Calico Sun felt like the right name. In a way, the project became my way of connecting with that same feeling of being comfortable, relaxed, and free to do something simply because I enjoy it. For me, that’s making music for the sake of creating something, which has always been a subconscious urge I’ve had for as long as I can remember.
OSR: The tracks of the album were recorded over a number of years, but all explore the same theme. When did you realise this and decide to put them together for an album?
Sam: The track list ended up revealing itself over time based on how well certain songs complemented each other and the subtle themes they had in common. There are recurring ideas around change and moving forward, the passage of time, reflection through nature and nostalgia, and ultimately finding some sense of contentment through daydreaming.
Initially, there were more than ten songs being considered for the album, but I eventually cut it down to these seven because of how naturally they seemed to fit together. Even though each song is quite different and touches on different styles and moods, I wanted to take a less-is-more approach and let those common threads connect the songs without making it overtly a concept album.
OSR: Cosmic Revelations delves into learning how to live after changes. Is there a personal story behind the music?
Sam: There was a lot happening personally while these songs were being written. I was going through probably one of the biggest periods of change in my life. I was moving on from previous relationships, finding new ones, and leaving behind an older way of life that I had spent more than a decade in. I’d been living in Boston, playing in bands, and trying to “make it” in the music industry. Eventually, I left that life behind, started a new job, got married, and moved from the city to a rural farming community, where I learned how to slow down a bit and settle into a more adult and practical lifestyle.
One of the biggest things I realized during that transition was that creating music didn’t need to come with all this career defining pressure. I set up a home studio and rediscovered the enjoyment of writing and recording simply because I wanted to, without worrying about touring or trying to make a living from it. Of all the years I’ve spent writing music with different bands, I feel like this was probably the most sincere and fluid album to write because a lot of that pressure had finally drifted away.
OSR: This musical project is a solo venture, but you have featured vocal guests on the tracks of the album. How did you connect with these guest vocalists?
Sam: To be perfectly honest, I’ve never considered myself much of a singer. This project is my first time taking on lead vocals, and it’s been by far the most challenging part of it. That said, I love writing songs with vocals, so I figured I had to push myself and find a way to make it work. Early on, I even considered having other people sing the songs entirely, but ultimately decided I wanted to challenge myself and do it.
At the same time, I thought it would be nice to support my vocals by bringing in some of my closest friends and collaborators from previous bands. I originally wanted to have even more guest vocalists, but the people you hear on the album were very gracious to lend their talents to the record. I tried to incorporate their voices in ways that supported the song without taking over, so everything still felt cohesive with my vocals ultimately leading the way.
Having a few really talented vocalists in the room during the recording sessions also ended up helping my confidence quite a bit, both with singing and arranging vocal parts.
OSR: As these songs were written independently of each other, how did you decide the order you would use for the album?
Sam: The order almost revealed itself as the songs were completed. “Fields” and “Juniper” felt like natural openers because they’re two of the more accessible and positive-sounding songs on the album, with a lighter feel than much of what comes later. “Nebula” starts to bring in some of the heavier and more aggressive side of the record, and then “Moons of Valeria” moves into a darker tone with longer instrumental passages, which made it feel like a natural centerpiece.
The balance shifts again with “Lazy Summer Haze,” which brings things back to a lighter place before the title track, “Cosmic Revelations”, builds toward the biggest crescendo on the album. “Waiting” then cools everything down as an introspective ballad. I liked ending there because it doesn’t necessarily resolve the themes of the album, but instead leaves things a little open to interpretation.
OSR: If people could listen to only one track from the album, which would you recommend?
Sam: That’s always such a hard decision, especially since the tracks are pretty diverse and I think they work best as a full album. If I had to choose one, though, I’d probably go with “Moons of Valeria.” Even though it’s the longest track and probably the least accessible from a traditional standpoint, I think it shows off a lot of what I wanted to do with the album in terms of longer form arrangements and letting the music stretch out. I really love the guitar solo and the drumming in the middle section in particular. I firmly believe modern music needs more guitar solos and more long instrumental sections! I think it challenges the listener and lets the mind wander in a fun way.
OSR: You’ve also released an official music video for the opening track ‘Fields’. Can you tell us more about creating the video?
Sam: The video came about alongside the themes of the album and my move to the countryside. Most of it was filmed in my backyard and on conservation land around my hometown over the course of an entire year, so it ended up being a pretty major undertaking. I learned a lot throughout the process, but also had a lot of fun setting up the different shots and creating a world entirely focused on nature.
Other than the instruments, there are no buildings, cars, or other people featured in the video until the very end credits. My goal was to create this small world where all that really exists is nature and the instruments, which felt like a natural extension of the song and the album as a whole.
OSR: While you are a multi-instrumentalist, what was the first instrument you picked up and what drew you to it?
Sam: Technically, the first instrument I played was trumpet. My father is a professional trumpet player and started teaching me when I was three years old. I stuck with it for quite a while and even played trumpet in a ska band in high school, but by my early teens I had also picked up the guitar, which quickly became my main instrument.
Since then, my main role in bands has been lead guitar. Guitar soloing is what comes first and most naturally to me, so I tried to incorporate as much of that as I could into this record. A lot of the other instruments I played on the album, like bass, keyboards, synthesizers, and theremin, are things I’ve mostly learned on the fly over the past few years while working on Calico Sun.
OSR: You write, record and produce all your music yourself in your home studio, but what is your creative process?
Sam: I feel like over the past few years I’ve finally landed on a creative process that works for me as a solo artist. Most songs usually begin on acoustic guitar, coming up with riffs and chord progressions and singing melodies with nonsense lyrics until something starts to take shape. Once a song is halfway or mostly written, I’ll make a full demo in Logic with programmed drums and quickly recorded instruments to work out the arrangement.
On this album in particular, Rob, the drummer on this project and a longtime collaborator who actually played in my first high school band, recorded his parts over the demos and expanded on the programmed drum ideas. Once I had his drums, I went back and completely re-recorded everything with real instruments and amps to build the finished tracks.
I’ve since figured out some ways to streamline that process for the next batch of songs, but it still almost always starts with a guitar, sometimes sitting on the porch, staring off into the distance, and waiting for an idea or melody to somehow jump into my head.
OSR: Your music is packed with psychedelic, progressive and indie rock sounds. What draws you to this particular style of music?
Sam: Over the past few decades, psychedelic rock has been one of my favorite music genres. Growing up, I listened to a lot of Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Sgt. Pepper-era Beatles, and guitar-driven jam music like Phish and the Grateful Dead. My guitar teacher in high school was also really deep into the prog scene and introduced me to that style of guitar playing, which had a big influence on me.
More recently, I’ve gotten really into modern psych bands like Triptides, Ghosts of Jupiter, and early Tame Impala.
What I like most about psychedelic music isn’t just the guitar work, but the endless possibilities it gives you to color the music with different sounds and effects. Phaser, reverb, flanger, delay, you name it. The rules are a bit looser than other genres, and it gives you an opportunity to experiment and get a little weird with things, which I like.
OSR: What are you hoping people will take away from listening to your music?
Sam: This being my first full-length album, I hope people can connect with the raw, human approach to the home recording process and appreciate some of the little nuances and imperfections that hopefully give the record some authenticity.
Ultimately, though, one of my main goals was to make guitar-forward songs, with each track having some kind of memorable riff, lead line, or solo. I hope some of those melodies stick with people and maybe inspire them to explore more music in the same style, whether that’s the classic psych and prog bands from the ’70s that paved the way or newer artists who are still carrying that influence forward.
OSR: What are your musical plans for the future?
Sam: Now that this album is complete and out the door, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted. I’ve already started writing songs for the next album, and I’m hoping to bring in more guest musicians and collaborators this time around.
Now that my home studio is fully up and running, I’m also hoping I can make records a little more prolifically going forward. I learned a lot from making Cosmic Revelations, both creatively and in terms of the recording process, so I think I’ll be able to take those lessons and work more efficiently on whatever comes next.
This has been great. Thanks so much for having me for the interview!
Many thanks to Sam Bahman for speaking with us. Find out more about Calico Sun on his Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, SoundCloud, Bandcamp and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
