Sam Rappaport’s “Bicycle Away” Tugs At the Heart

Bicycle Away cover art/ courtesy of the artist

San Fernando Valley native-turned Brooklyn-based singer and songwriter Sam Rappaport is back on the music scene with his latest single “Bicycle Away.” As the song is deeply rooted in memories of Rappaport’s childhood, its journey to the track it is today first began over a year and a half ago. Beginning with an image of him and his childhood friends riding bikes throughout their West coast neighborhoods, thoughts spiraled into childhood thoughts of wanting to break free of the valley.

“From there, I moved into the present and started thinking about the difficulties I’ve had in finding equilibrium in relationships, the tendency to kind of swing between extremes,” Rappaport tells Brooklyn Roads. “Somehow, I crammed all that stuff together into a song. I’m not really sure how it happens.” The single itself has a very nostalgic tone from the very first second. With lyrics like “I’ll race against the sun as it cascades into the sea,” one can only feel a pang of memory hit from a time when they also felt like breaking free.

Sam Rappaport On His Bicycle/ photo by John LaRosa/ courtesy of the artist

As Rappaport describes it, “‘Bicycle Away’ is a song about emotional oscillation. It’s about the uncertainty that accompanies that volatile state of wanting to be close to someone while needing room to grow. It’s about the running from and chasing of romantic intimacy…It’s about the urgent desire to move beyond the horizon.”

Rappaport teamed up with Queens-based interpretive dancers and filmmakers Kathleen Dalton and Sonja Petermann to create a music video adjacent to his single. Set in both an empty room of an apartment, and an outdoor nature trail, Dalton and Petermann move fluidly with expressionist and interpretive dance, which Sam recalls as new experiences.  “I think what they’ve created really matches the tone and emotion of the song while offering a completely new experience of it,” said Rappaport.

A perfect track to reminisce of old memories, and even create new ones, Rappaport hopes that with the release of this song, that it touches all who listen. “With every song I write, I’m just hoping that it might be able to hit at least one person in the chest–like, make them feel something, whether that’s sadness or joy or the clarifying sense of having your emotions articulated. I hope that someone might see a part of themself in the song, and I hope that makes them feel less alone.”