Postcards from Crouch End
Enjoy the music with a tantalising coffee or an elegant wine, Crouch End style.
Available on AmazonPeople sometimes laugh or smile benignly when I talk proudly about Crouch End. They give me a certain look that says, ‘are you for real?!’
I know what they are thinking; of all the places I have travelled around the world, of all the wonderful cities I have seen and people I have met, the stages I have performed on, ‘What’s so special about Crouch End?’
The music on this album aims to answer that question to some degree.
The track Piha Beach captures the isolation and wilderness of a remote part of New Zealand’s South Island. Another track evokes memories of a fantastic train journey in Japan. All this is in contrast to the stimulating, bustling, engaging and also enchanting part of London known as Crouch End.
Enjoy the music with a tantalising coffee or an elegant wine, Crouch End style.
Sam Piha
Track list
All tracks are written by Sam Piha, with the exception of track 9, written with Thea Daum and tracks 10, 11 and 12, written with Philip Bennett. All tracks performed on guitar by Sam Piha.
- Crouch End Waltz
- Crouch End Broadway
- Crouch Hill
- Shinkansen
- Piha Beach
- Why Grimsby? Flute Louise Garner
- Parkland Walk
- The Cold Wild Wood Flute Louise Garner
- Tachi-ai (Sam Piha & Thea Daum) Guitars Sam Piha & Thea Daum
- Undertow (Sam Piha & Philip Bennett) Guitar Sam Piha, Violin Philip Bennett
- The Return (Sam Piha & Philip Bennett) Guitar Sam Piha, Violin Philip Bennett
- Past and Present (Sam Piha & Philip Bennett) Guitar Sam Piha, Violin Philip Bennett
Bonus tracks
- Crouch End Waltz (solo guitar version)
- Tachi-ai (Guitar and Flute version) Flute Louise Garner
- Piha Beach (Alternative version)
Musicians: Sam Piha (Guitars) Louise Garner (Flute) Philip Bennett (Violin) Thea Daum (Guitar)
All tracks recorded at The Church Studios Crouch End apart from ‘The Return’ and ‘Past and Present’ recorded at Rooster Studios West London and ‘Undertow’ recorded at home in Crouch End.
Engineer: Aeron Z Jones

Song inspirations
This is the first of the Crouch End pieces that I wrote. I was at home alone for a couple of days and just wandered down to Crouch End to pick up some shopping. Everyone was strolling round the shops in a kind of dance, the name came in to my head and it just seemed to write itself.