Laura Misch: Sample The Earth

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Emma Barnaby (vc)
Tomáš Kašpar (g, b)
Marysia Osu (hp, p)
Sian O’Gorman (bv)
Laura Misch (v, as)
Oli Barton Wood (space echo)
Polly Misch (bv)

Label:

One Little Independent Records

July/2024

Media Format:

LP, DL

Catalogue Number:

TPLP1856

RecordDate:

Rec. February 2024

In 2023, Laura Misch released her debut album Sample The Sky, a nature-inspired oeuvre of leftfield pop electronica. Her close follow-up, Sample The Earth, is a reworking of her first album, but while the songs and themes remain the same, the sound has most definitely changed. In Sample The Earth, the London-based saxophonist, singer and producer channels a more raw, acoustic sound in line with her core inspiration - the natural environment.

Casting aside electronic beats in favour of drumless arrangements, the mood is plaintive and melancholic, with a focus on Misch’s vocals, which are warm and enveloping. Between sparingly-played sax lines, her lyrics conjure up forests, oceans, and open skies.

Misch’s instrumental collaborators also shine through, from Marysia Osu’s wistful harp playing in ‘Portals Into Outer Edges (Regrown)’ to Emma Barnaby’s drone-like cello strokes in ‘Listen To The Sky (Regrown)’. The album was recorded live at Premises Studios in front of an audience of close friends. This intimacy is felt through all nine tracks, forming an offering of closeness and connection to our very-present, but often forgotten, natural world.

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