A Bowie-leaning rock anthem with a clear-eyed heart and a sharp sense of purpose
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Harry Kappen’s Good Samaritans
is built around a kind of decency that rarely advertises itself. Drawn from After the Crossing, the song looks past public gestures and carefully managed appearances toward the people who simply step forward when somebody needs help. Kappen gives that idea a sturdy musical frame, pairing direct social observation with rock arrangements that carry conviction without turning the message into a sermon.
The track moves on muscular guitars and a driving rhythm section, but there is colour around that foundation. A theatrical streak runs through the arrangement, recalling some of David Bowie’s more expansive rock instincts without overwhelming Kappen’s plainspoken writing. Danna Gomez’s chorus vocals are particularly important, widening the refrain until its message feels communal rather than solitary. Her voice brings brightness against the heavier instrumentation, as though the song itself is opening outward.
That contrast suits Kappen’s subject. Good Samaritans
sets images of “plastic smiles” and “sculpted skies” against people whose generosity happens without an audience. The frustration is directed less at individuals than at a culture in which visibility can become confused with virtue. Kappen keeps returning instead to quieter forms of usefulness: showing up, offering help, and doing what is needed without turning the act into self-promotion.
It is a perspective that connects naturally with the artist’s broader life. Born in Groningen, Kappen has moved through rock bands, recording studios, radio and television production, while his work in music therapy places connection at the centre of another part of his practice. That history gives the song’s concern with empathy a grounding beyond abstraction. When he writes about people reaching toward one another, the idea sits inside a career shaped by music as both expression and human contact.
Kappen performs, sings, and produces the material on After the Crossing himself, giving the record a strongly personal character. Written in the period surrounding his move from the Netherlands to Mexico, the album carries questions of change, continuity, and what remains important when familiar coordinates begin to shift. Good Samaritans
fits neatly into that larger frame. Its crossing is less geographical than ethical: amid distraction, spectacle, and uncertainty, what kind of person do you choose to be?
There is no grand solution offered. Kappen is more interested in the modest acts that keep communities functioning when larger systems become impersonal. The song’s melodic directness reinforces that simplicity, giving its central idea room to register without ornamenting it beyond recognition.
Within After the Crossing, Good Samaritans
becomes a song about moral attention: noticing who is struggling, recognising who quietly steps in, and refusing to mistake noise for substance. Kappen places those everyday gestures against a full-bodied rock arrangement, giving unadvertised kindness the volume it rarely asks for.
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