Music Crowns is proud to premiere See Through Now, the powerful new full-length album from Boston singer-songwriter Sam Gelston. A deeply personal collection written, performed, and recorded entirely by Gelston in his bedroom, the nine-track release finds the artist confronting relationships, mental health, mortality, and the search for meaning with remarkable honesty and creative freedom.
Known for his distinctive voice, raw production aesthetic, and willingness to challenge conventional ideas of beauty, Gelston occupies a unique space between alternative rock, folk, and lo-fi songwriting. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Elliott Smith, Big Star, and Jeff Buckley, he crafts songs that feel intimate and unpredictable, balancing emotional vulnerability with sharp wit and unconventional storytelling. On See Through Now, those qualities reach new heights as Gelston strips away polish in favour of authenticity, allowing imperfections, spontaneous performances, and emotional immediacy to shape the record’s identity.
The album opens with the darkly humorous “I’m Coming to LA to Kill You,” a tongue-in-cheek ode to a close friend who moved across the country. From there, Gelston navigates a series of deeply human contradictions. “Who You Are” examines feelings of isolation within a relationship, while “IDKY” reflects on reconnecting after a fractured friendship. Elsewhere, tracks such as “Lazy Too” and “Meet Me Downtown” explore depression, self-doubt, perception, and the increasingly difficult task of maintaining authenticity in a noisy modern world.
One of the album’s most striking qualities is its embrace of discomfort. Rather than relying on familiar lyrical tropes, Gelston frequently gravitates toward unusual imagery and unsettling language, particularly on standout track “Somethings Last a While.” The result is songwriting that feels refreshingly unfiltered, capable of uncovering beauty in places many artists would overlook.
The emotional centerpiece arrives with closing track “Make It Make Sense,” written following Gelston’s diagnosis of kidney failure. Recorded directly from an iPhone demo after the original performance proved impossible to recreate, the song captures a moment of profound vulnerability and serves as both a confrontation with mortality and a declaration of perseverance. It is a fitting conclusion to an album that consistently chooses emotional truth over technical perfection.
Originally trained as a drummer before teaching himself guitar at fifteen, Gelston has spent years developing his voice as both a songwriter and musician. Following his debut EP Breathe for You, the full-length Trees in Season, his work with alternative punk outfit Hands of Spite, and contributions to Lenny Lashley’s Pray for Death, See Through Now feels like the culmination of a creative philosophy rooted in honesty and experimentation.
Funny, heartbreaking, cynical, hopeful, chaotic, and sincere, See Through Now is an album that embraces life’s contradictions rather than attempting to resolve them. In preserving every rough edge and imperfect moment, Sam Gelston has created a record that feels profoundly human; a reminder that meaning and beauty can still emerge from uncertainty.
See Through Now is out now, and Music Crowns is proud to premiere the album in full.
