A big thank you to Folk Radio for their attentive review of our album ‘All One Breath’
Click on the button to read the full review below
“Using traditional grounding, they travel on pathways far less rooted in the old ways. For a band born in England before moving to Wales, they seem more honed in on the culture of the American West. That dichotomy rests at the heart of their music. Wanders in worlds of the unfamiliar, they imbue their music a similar sense of rootlessness.
No one seems to know melancholy the way Samana does; it rests in every pore. The guitars that open “Melancholy Heat” are like old friends, yet as Harris and Mockett sing, it all becomes clear, “I’ve come to understand, the pain in all I’ve known/ The importance to be rooted down/ The art of letting go.” Like an old blues guitarist, Mockett imbues “The Glory of Love” with a downhome slide work. Yet, the piece takes off in directions that incorporate the blues while not feeling particularly bluesy, which seems to be Samana’s secret gift.
The languid opening to “Patience” has the feel of old Fleetwood Mac, circa “Albatross,” yet thanks to a guitar solo, ends up going down roads that Peter Green and Danny Kirwan never imagined. Yet, at no time does the song feel out of place or forced into directions that stray from the pathways Samana have established.
Harris can sound almost like the ghost of Nico at one point, but in the following line, her tone and texture is miles away, making for an interesting blend of the foreign and familiar.
At the heart of Samana and All One Breath opposite worlds seem to coalesce forming contradictions that are part of the very fabric of life. They travel emotional pathways through a constantly changing landscape, documenting moments that may never come again.”
