Samana announce new album ‘All One Breath’

Back in August, we offered a brief glimpse into the world of Rebecca Rose Harris and Franklin Mockett, who sail under the banner of Samana. My thoughts on their live performance of ‘Begin Again’ are still fresh in memory…”Her voice, even during the quieter notes, holds such beauty and serenity, balancing deeper sombre tones against gentle fragile notes. It’s such a mesmerising and all-consuming delivery, it just stops you in your tracks.”

They described that song as “an almost haunting echo that resides in-between the realms of the lives we live and the lives we intend to live.”

The duo have been on quite a journey, having spent two years rebuilding a Georgian farmhouse in the wild Welsh countryside, an experience that inevitably resonates through their work. As I said previously, Samana is both poetry, music, striking photography…it’s a unique and beautiful project, one that you’re happily drawn into to spend time with.

Now the opportunity has arisen to do exactly that as they prepare to release their second full-length album following 2019’s ‘Ascension’ LP, which Elbow’s Guy Garvey richly championed. ‘All One Breath’ (28th January 2022) continues Samana’s enthralling musical journey, weaving between various musical styles and influences, from progressive folk to an experimental, transcendental take on soul, blues, and rock. Their music has been described as ‘brooding psychedelia and atmospheric folk that lands somewhere between Dana Gavanski and Sharon Van Etten’…nice territory to be in. To mark the album announcement, they have shared an accompanying video for ‘The Beach’.

Though many of the songs on ‘All One Breath’ were improvisations – led both by specific moments and the days and nights that Rebecca and Franklin spent wandering the surrounding hills and forests – there is still plenty of structure here. ‘The Beach’ blends meditative guitar parts with a far more focused vocal, one which repeats the question ‘Should I turn back?’ as the darkness of the composition winds around it.

“‘The Beach’ is a song that encompasses expansion. It is an interpretation of empty space; a walk upon a shoreline that stretches in between our waking consciousness and the liminal space of dreams.”

The duo have also announced a UK tour; see dates below.

In another world, Samana made a quick getaway back to Wales at the start of 2020 and concocted something entirely different. Thankfully, we have ‘All One Breath’, an emotional, mysterious, and mesmerising snapshot of a time and place that was, initially, uniquely informed by its own limitations but found its release, its spark and energy in the great depths of intrigue and imagination. And aren’t we the lucky ones?

All One Breath is released 28th January 2022

The album will also be available as a DINKED Edition, limited to 400 copies.