BBC 6 Radio
It was a pleasure to be featured on Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour speaking about the Beatles’ album ‘Revolver’
First Two Shows of Autumn Tour Sold Out
The first two shows of our Autumn tour in Brighton and London both sold out! These were truly beautiful and poignant evenings that we shall not forget. A huge thank you to everyone who came down and joined us! Click below to get tickets to the remaining shows.
Other Voices Festival
We are delighted to announce that we will be performing at Other Voices Festival in Cardigan on the 4th and 5th November!
Tour Fund
A huge thank you to the incredible Help Musicians for awarding us with their tour grant to support our October shows across the UK. They are the most incredible charity, offering a range of support for musicians of all genres. They care deeply about artistic projects and welfare!
October 2022 Tour
It is less than two weeks until the first show of the tour is upon us.
We are kicking things off in Brighton on the 12th October at The Folklore Rooms.
Tickets are selling fast so make sure to purchase yours here before its too late!
12th October - Folklore - Brighton
14th October - Elsewhere - Margate
15th October - Slaughtered Lamb - London
18th October - Pie & Vinyl - Portsmouth
26th October - Truck Records - Oxford
27th October - Hermon Arts - Oswestry
29th October - The Druidstone - Pembrokeshire
Experimental Saxophone
Jamming In the studio with our dear friend Hugos’ incredible home-built modular synthesiser
October UK Tour
Having spent the last 3 years building our recording studio in the heart of the welsh countryside, we have come to an exciting crossroads where all of our hard work has finally come to a head, presenting us with an opportunity to devote ourselves fully to our creations once more.
Following the success of our self-released, second album “All One Breath”, which enjoyed world-wide critical acclaim from the likes of Mojo, Clash and Uncut magazine, we are delighted to announce our October 2022 UK tour, with dates and venues below:
October 12th - Brighton (Folklore) October 14th - Margate (Elsewhere)
October 15th - London (Slaughtered Lamb)
October 18th - Portsmouth (Pie & Vinyl)
October 26th - Oxford (Truck Records)
October 27th - Oswestry (Herman Arts)
October 29th - Pembrokeshire (The Druidstone)
We hope with our hearts that the road leads us to a venue near you, and encourage you to book tickets early!
'Leaving' Live Performance
We are delighted to release a live rendition of ‘leaving’; the finale of our second album, ‘All One Breath.’
Released in collaboration with PRS for music we had the privilege, to work with the ludicrously talented engineer and producer Owain fleetwood Jenkins from the alters of his studio - StudiOwz nestled in the foothills of the preseli’s. This song is of great significance to us, and we’d like to pay a special thanks to SWND records for helping us realise this performance, as well as a shout out to our record label ‘The Road Records’ for shooting the production.
“Human consciousness is the invisible, intangible manifestation of the soul”
- Carl Jung
BBC6 Music
Thank you to Guy Garvey for playing the last song of the album ‘Leaving’ on his BBC 6 Music show on Sunday.
“I love the band so much. I just love her voice so much! Wonderful new music from Samana. Get all their music because its all fantastic. Beautiful inspiring people.”
-Guy Garvey
God Is In The TV Album Review
Thank you to God Is In The TV for their write up about ‘All One Breath’
“Gorgeous, nighttime melancholic psych-folk that crackles with wood smoke and campfire light. What you hear now, a refined, timeless collection that sighs with the weight of stars and darkness, hills and forests, dreams and fears. Harris’s voice is a shimmering silken thread that binds Mockett’s patchwork of Americana guitar styles. Pull the blanket up and play this softly, through headphones, just before bed. 8/10”
All One Breath Short Film
Watch our new analogue short-film ‘All One Breath’
No.6 In The Official Charts
Our album ‘All One Breath’ was No.6 on the Official Folk Albums chart 2022 - the chart that highlights the biggest folk albums by UK & Irish acts! Watch the album being announced via Folk on Foot’s album chart show here
BBC Radio Wales - Leaving
Listen to Adam Walton play our single ‘Leaving’ on BBC Radio Wales:
“This will remove the roofs from your houses, you’re going to float off and out and into the ether. There is a sense of elevation; it reminds me of Mazzy Star. There’s something very, very special about the vocal on this track - Rebecca Rose Harris’s vocal is just utterly, utterly, utterly gorgeous!”
-Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales
Secret Meeting Magazine - Interview
We recently spoke to Tom Williams/Secret Meeting about our recent album All One Breath, our artistic processes and philosophies and our feelings about returning to the stage. You can read the full interview via the link below and be the first to watch our conceptual film shot on super 8 released in connection to the album.
Samana confront the heaviest elements of the human condition
“The pair’s sophomore album is one that confronts the heaviest elements of the human condition – alternately surrendering to this heaviness and transcending it.
Much of what was composed in these sessions were ‘improvisations,’ Rebecca tells me, guided by in-the-moment inspiration and faith in the magic of spontaneity. Accordingly, these songs channel a free-wheeling spirit – less conceptual than its predecessor, yet somehow heavier, and harbouring all the power of a revelation. Mockett tells me that the music of All One Breath was written during a period devoid of ‘the touch of humanity’ and as such these songs can almost feel as though they were written by the last people on earth – finding solace in their solitude while pondering the unknowable.
All One Breath somehow feels like a natural point of continuation from Ascension; not so much re-inventing the band’s sound, but instead taking their early ambitions and expanding them into cinematic proportions. ‘I never see the musical process as an evolution, but as a continuation,’ Rebecca tells me.”
Line Of Best Fit Album Review
The Line Of Best Fit gave our album a 9/10!
Here is a small section of the review:
‘Samana’s soothing vocals and sliding guitars serenade a journey to deep bliss on All One Breath’
“The outstanding instrumentation on this record are enough to transcend the listener into a state of melancholy bliss. The sliding and hammering guitar parts beautifully accompany Harris’ low and dreamy vocals that create raw, soulful and hypnotic music. Considering most of the tracks were improvised, it’s astonishingly structured and consistent. it conjures a sound that demonstrates rawness and vulnerability, yet so beautifully alive. In an alternate universe, Samana hurried back to Wales after their one week in France and we ended up with a very different album. Thank God they stayed in that French countryside with their limited selection of instruments, as Harris and Mockett have gifted us with a sonically and thematically beautiful piece of work that compliments their raw talent. Proven by their improvisation and restrictive recording process, it resulted in a record that truly inspires awe.”
-The Line Of Best Fit
Album Review
Thank you to Spanish magazine Il Cibicida for their beautiful and detailed review of our album ‘All One Breath’
Here is a snippet of the review:
“Visceral: this is the most suitable term to describe and summarize the sophomore of the Samana project. The basic slowcore sounds are mixed with blues hints stripped of the superfluous that lead to chamber folk, where Rebecca's voice dominates the scene, oscillating between the intense PJ Harvey, of which we find the more minimal and sparse influences of "White Chalk ”(2007), his“ heir ”Anna Calvi, the cold and tormented Nico and the ethereal and melancholy little mermaid Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star. The intertwined hands that emerge from the rocks depicted on the cover symbolize a single entity and a single breath, that of Rebecca and Franklin, united by love and the search for the new, and the world around them in a harmonic dance, almost a ritual , concepts best illustrated by the percussion and choirs that mark The Glory Of Love and the piano that frames All One Breath. The spiritual path of "All One Breath" acts as an invitation to regain possession of ourselves and our time, as well as rediscovering harmony with the environment that surrounds us, the desire to overcome our borders and learn, looking at everything with eyes different, to be able to capture a multitude of small details, expressions and changes at the first shot, just like a skilled photographer with a Leica M6 loaded with black and white film in search of the perfect shot, forgetting the superfluous.”
4/5 stars
- Il Cibicida
'Lonesome Highway' Album Review
Thank you to ‘Lonesome Highway’ magazine for their review of All One Breath
Samana is comprised of artist and poet, Rebecca Rose Harris and producer and multi -instrumentalist, Franklin Mockett. Their second album is a real treat and one that lulls you into a soporific state of drifting reverie. Harris possesses a vocal style that is both haunting and languid in her delivery. When you wrap her esoteric words around the lush melodies created by Mockett, then what you get is a restrained magic across these ten songs.
The album was recorded in 2020 in rural France, where the couple found themselves in lockdown as Covid struck the country. Deciding to stay at their rustic retreat and to explore what may arise out of their collaborations proved to be a wise choice. The results were a basket full of songs that echo the quiet calm of the countryside and an ethereal sense of the world slowing down. The lack of album credits leads me to believe that the entire project was delivered by the duo exclusively and, if this is the case, then I am in awe of the talent on display.
Harris channels the spirit of these times, her feminine instincts in tune with the slow turn of nature and seducing all those who listen to these vignettes of reflective thoughts and realised emotions. Her tone is sometimes reminiscent of Nico as she sings on top of the beautiful melody lines that add great colours. Leaving is all strummed guitars, soaring cello and violin melodies with a stripped-down bass and drum rhythm; a song about wanting to travel and releasing a wistful yearning to feel free. The superb Patience builds to a dynamic conclusion and is about the most up-tempo track included here. Begin Again has a gentle acoustic guitar motif, subtle strings and a wish to start a life all over again. Patience speaks about living in the moment and returning to the present. There is not a weak track here and the superb guitar playing of Mockett is a joy throughout. An album to treasure and one that is both hauntingly beautiful and deeply moving.
Interview with Welsh Connections
It was a pleasure talking to Welsh Connections about our music.
“Rebecca & Franklin of Samana join Mike in the studio to talk about their new album, All One Breath, forthcoming tour and the origins of the band and their music. A fascinating insight onto one of our most innovative and daring bands who are pushing the boundaries of forming music and creating, in the process, something quite beautiful”
'Harris can almost sound like the ghost of Nico' - Isra Box
Live Review
