Samson & Delilah

Samson & Delilah

Silently

Little Red Rabbit

Samson & Delilah

And Straight On Till Morning

Little Red Rabbit

Samson & Delilah's second album 'And Straight On Till Morning' is a beautiful record of psychedelic folk, immaculately recorded in a restored Victorian concert hall. Recorded almost totally live over a single week, the record uses the vast space of the concert hall to full effect, with natural reverb and multiple ambient microphones capturing the dynamics of a band totally at ease with each other and their songs. Often playing together in a circle, their music acts as direct folk songs that communicate truths between performer and listener. Starting with the spooked-out cover of a boy discovering a strange beast, an atmosphere of nocturnal psychedelia seeps through songs where physical and emotional distance intertwine. The title comes from Peter Pan; Lench's songs in particular capture the book's sense of escape and flight, be it literal or in dreams. His singing is rich and warm but with a vulnerability that complements that longing. Zweck's songs by contrast were written while suffering from a serious bout of RSI-related illness. Unable to move her right hand to create melodic elements, her piano-based songs were written around minimal chords, unconsciously referencing her interest in minimal composers like Arvo Part and Tord Gustavsen. When coupled with a full band and in particular Motown-style drums that bleed onto all the microphones, the effect is thrilling. This contrast between sparse, elemental writing and the full band arrangements is one of the features of the record, and one where producer Brendan Williams has played a key role. More...

Samson & Delilah

Black Dog

Little Red Rabbit

Samson & Delilah

S/t

Little Red Rabbit

Sam Lench and Anna Zweck are partners in life as well as in song and this is their debut album under their creative nom de plume Samson & Delilah. Influenced by stories and traditions new and old, the duo write songs of love and longing, truth and deceit, beauty and decay. The album tells the story not of their relationship per se but rather of where their lives intertwine. Lench has a background in indie-rock whilst Zweck is classically trained and this difference comes together to lend the album a rare breadth of style. From transcendental drone-folk ('Crystallised Sand') and room-silencing a capella ('And When The Rose') to uplifting songs of love across distance ('Angels Said'), 'Samson & Delilah' locates the exact point where Lench and Zweck's unspoken truths find a voice. ‘Samson & Delilah’ is structured as a loose day cycle, reflected in the album’s stunning artwork depicting dawn and dusk. This concept takes on a greater resonance when you learn that many of the songs were written while Zweck (who is Australian) and Lench (who grew up by a river in rural Somerset) were apart, on opposite sides of the world. “Starlight in your afternoon/Dusk in your dawn”, as Zweck sings on ‘Starlight In Your Afternoon’. Throughout the album, Zweck reveals a turn of phrase at once beautiful and curious - “Take to the moon/On a kerosene broom” from ‘Crystallised Sand’ takes Vashti Bunyan’s wideeyed wonder and adds a poetic longing for escape. Lench, for his part, provides...