A review of our stripped back performance in February whilst on tour by Rockwell Unscene Magazine
☆
“Samana are a duo from the Welsh valleys who explore an array of musical styles whilst maintaining a tranquil essence at the core of their work. To limit them to music would be doing a disservice as its evident from the website that Rebecca and Franklin's artistic journey incorporates other avenues including intriguing photography. Tonight, Samana are unleashing tracks from their new album ‘All One Breath‘ beginning with an alt-folk number called ‘Glory Of Love.’ Slide guitar beautifully complements the alto vocals which remind me of Johnette Napolitano from Concrete Blonde with the rich lower register surging up to reach the higher notes. ‘Harvest‘ sees a move into a more up tempo number, as the finger picking guitar contrasts with Rebecca’s swooping voice which she uses more as an instrument than for the lyrics as the song crescendos to its finale. Samana effectively use delay and reverb with both instrumentation and vocals to produce a dreamy wave of sound that allows the listener to drift to alternative landscapes. The final song, ‘Live For The Road,’ captures the ambience of driving along an open deserted road through middle America with a sense of freedom. Having experienced Samana’s live performance and now their recorded work, I can truly appreciate why Guy Garvey is championing them!”
