SAMUEL – THESE DAYS

Ever since I first heard Samuel's debut EP, Falling Star I was hooked. Here was a very fresh, very haunting new voice seeping into the music world. The EP was produced by Okzharp (of London-based outfit LV) and paired Samuel's aching vocals with a futuristic post-R&B sort of sound to a stunning degree of hypnotic clarity – though his voice, both then and now, feels as if it transcends any association with "dat future bass". Just like Samuel as a person, his voice is unique.

So thankfully this rare voice, this anti-commonplace set of vocal chords and their unconventional owner, is back for your ears to enjoy, beaming themselves into a new morsel of music called 'These Days'. Produced by London producer Kwes, it's a different sound to the type that graced the Falling Star EP – the cold, glacial, future-forward sounds are gone. However, the minimalism, which basically translates to the producer's careful consideration with Samuel's voice, is still there.

The production is bright, summerful and sunny, soft and soothing synth chords cushioning the vocals, with pockmarking plunks of bass left to peddle their simple subtleties below the meandering croons of Samuel rather than rumbling in-your-face. Clusters of homemade-sounding DIY-esque percussion clink and clankle in the chorus alongside shakers and the lonely thud of a kick as Samuel sings the cryptic hook, "These days are brighter than the sun, so tell me what you want / tell me what you want" – a sentiment reflected in the dripping innocence of this heat-warped music.

What else is good about this? The soaring vibe, the delicious synth sounds, the whole atmospheric, far-off feeling, the spirit of new romance, the deepness of the vocals coated in rich textures snaking through this cloud of production like a lone bird hovering silhouetted against vast blue, or even a the fleeting glint of a passenger plane caught by shards of sunlight amidst nonchalant clouds as it flies lonely and steady out of sight.

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• Please feel free to pre-order 'These Days' from Ninja Tune online shop (the Ninjashop) – or from Bandcamp. It gets released on 31st July via Ninja Tune subsidiary Big Dada.

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☟ Samuel Social Media Presence ☟
Facebook • Twitter • Tumblr

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LAZY INTERVIEW #16: SAMUEL

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← #15: ARISTOPHANES 貍貓 #17: BOTANY →

Here's a thing. It's time. Time for another Lazy Interview. The series is coming along nicely now. Sure is. You could, if you wanted to, actually have a flick back through past Q&As in the series - you can do that literally by just clicking where it says "INTERVIEWS" above. That's only if you want to. No one is forcing you. Hmmm.

So anyway yeah this is the latest one. It was a relatively quick turnaround. From pitching this guy to Dummy, getting a glowing green-light, writing about his Falling Star EP for them, and then writing about it for me (here), and then actually sending him the below questions, it's been a week since I first heard Samuel's music. Who is he? Well, this no-surnamed enigma of a man is a singer who recently released an EP, co-produced by Okzharp, that not only pushed boundaries musically - with a super smooth intergalactic post-R&B feel - but that also acted as a showcase for Samuel's voice; it has dynamic fluidity and capacity for expression that feels fresh at all times.

In any case, let us read.

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Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
I am Samuel and I make music bits. I live in Lewisham, from the green shores of Ireland.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
Just to feel better, really. Sadder, funn-er, detached-er-er, hopefuller. Lovinger. All the er's.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
I find it hard to process many things at once. I am loyal. I like clear bits. To hear fucking beautiful sounds and not want to overcrowd that beauty. Space to let the bits breathe. Milky. Milk with edge. Gangsta milk. Um, I don't know that it stands out. I don't know that it's good. I know that I am in it and that I feel that it is probably me within it, by the time I get to you hearing it.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
At night. When your body settles and your mind starts to close out, in a field with a scotch egg and folk that you love.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
Love.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
Growing up in catholic convents, singing to the Jesus doll. If you allow yourself to believe in him, singing to him can blow your fucking heart out.

What are your favourite three songs at the moment?
Tramp and Tom Waits - Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
The Abyssinian Baptist Choir - I Want To Ride That Glory Train
+ I really gotta settle on the third coz the finality of this is making me palpitate.

Who do you most admire in the music world?
I try to keep my blinkers in place. I guess music for me is glued into a therapeutic need/want/mess. I make it because I need to. I don't need to share it or have it dazzle out my ego but I do need it. So I find it hard to listen to other peoples music. I would like to have music friends but I can't. Ha! It's painful, doll.

In your opinion, what is the future of music?
I don't care to know this. Who could care? If I could know the face of my first born froglette, I'd probably just wait. Or the day to die. Yea, some things should be care-less.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
I hope to keep making it. Maybe I could share it, or perform it to folk who like it. To keep making music.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
Hair. I know a day will come when it shall leave me and that makes me sad. But then, there are sadder things to feel sad about.

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Samuel seems to have appeared from nowhere, with nothing but the beautiful Falling Star EP under his belt - a mystery as much as he is a talent. The above at least sheds a little more light on him. A little more. He seems genuine - wanting to create music to enhance everything: to "feel better" in every respect. In some ways, excluding himself from the current music world by keeping his "blinkers" in place, it not only allows him to concentrate on his own development as an artist, but it also allows his sound to be unpolluted by anything as fickle as fashion, the transient trends in music not affecting his sound.

And what about his sound? Well, you'd better check out the EP if you haven't done so already. Then you'll see that he pretty much sticks to what he says about not wanting to overcrowd beauty - it is a stark collection of sounds, something that allows each note to breathe, each element of each song never goes too far, never suffocates other elements, everything growing organically together in stunning simplicity. All he is concentrated on is his sound, his music, or rather the process of making music, being able to leave part of himself behind in each song without worrying too much about the result, or even the future at large - doing things in the moment. He said it best: "I make it because I need to." When something is this necessary to a person, no real influence can be made on it. It's pure.

Losing one's hair is also a sobering thought.

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SAMUEL FALLING STAR EP

Sparks of brilliance sometimes just come from nowhere without any forewarning. Such is the case with London-based Samuel, an enigmatic no-surnamed Irish-born singer & songmaker. Recently he has worked with Gervase Gordon, aka Okzharp - 1/3 of London trio LV - to produce this brand new Falling Star EP.

It's a collection of sounds that have really put a spin on the world of R&B, falling much more into a kind of swirling post-R&B protoplasma, a place where all the form and style of "urban" music is taken from the streets and blasted into far-flung galaxies where physicality is something dreamt-up. Much of this is owing to the noises that in all their careful minimalism make for an enormous atmosphere of a futuristic space-age of music. There are distorted delayed synths in the menacing subby sea of 'Death Star Wonder', sounds of lasers rippling by like a neon-tinged dogfight in space - which is kinda perfect as the song is an intergalactic vision of dancehall-flavoured music, a club night orbiting Earth where there is no day, only the eternally danceable night.

Likewise, in 'Boom Boom Boom', the ultra-clean snapping beat of "present-day" R&B becomes an otherwordly, liquidly-distorted bounce, the romantic pizzicato strings become ultra-computerised beeps. Hip hop faces the future in the short-n-sweet title track 'Falling Star', its shuffling rhythm combining sharp synth chords with fidgeting lead bleeps that become more and more paranoiac towards the end of the song. Here also, Samuel's vocals themselves go through a change with a Jamaican lilt that he clearly seems to enjoy singing with, feeling each note with a longing ache.

One of the crucial elements of all good R&B is of course the voice and it's no different here. Samuel's soulful vocals change to suit each track; they're clean and almost sing-along in 'Death Star Wonder', holding up against the harsh sounds of the song; then there's his tongue-in-cheek parody of contemporary R&B with some of the lines in 'Boom Boom Boom' - "Errbody say hey, hey", mentioning "East Coast" and "West Coast", and declaiming "I'm not a fighter. I'm a lover, baby" halfway through. But in 'Steam Train' his vocals are softer, wrapped in a thin mist of hush that totally suits the slow chill of the song - it's a perfect start to the EP, one that instantly introduces the glistening melodies of imagined planets before going into a gloriously minimalistic verse: each sound is left to resound by itself, Samuel's voice given space to reverb heavenly over everything else.

I wrote about this EP for Dummy magazine at the end of last week. It's difficult to sum it up using different words than I used in that article, so I think what I'll do is just copy and paste them here. Yeah, it's lazy, I know, but, well, maybe there's just no other way to say what I think, ever consider that? "These are isolated idylls of romance; all of it holds reminders of traditional modern pop music, yet its far-flung progressive sound makes it something much more exciting." Pretty much. Where will we find Samuel's voice next? Singing in a pod slowly making its way across the universe... Perhaps not, but if ever there was a sound to remember when the sound of R&B music begins turning its head towards the endless chasm of the future, it's this Falling Star EP.

PS. This is released on Ninjatune affiliate, Technicolour.

PPS. Check out my interview with Samuel!

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