Nigel Samways - Temani

Sounds Against Humanity

‘Temple of the Swine’

New solo album released as a limited edition CD-R on David Newlyn’s Cathedral Transmissions label.

Digital download from my bandcamp page.

Recorded Spring - Summer 2015. I’d consider this to be perhaps one of my more atypical releases, going into some new musical territory.

An alternative point of view in Frans De Waard’s Vital Weekly review:

“It might be a bit of a bummer, but whatever Nigel Samways does, I will always compare it with 'Havenots Havenever' (see Vital Weekly 835), in which everything he did worked very well: field recordings, ambient like music, wind instruments, percussion. I was reminded of A Tent's obscure LP from the early 80s (when Cherry Red Records released such great daring records and which is, I believe, still not on CD). Samways releases after that where fine, great, but didn't reach the level of excellence that was 'Havenots Havenever'. I am not sure why that is. Maybe it's just coincidence that I linked 'Havenots Havenever' to A Tent, and thus marking a distinction for me, which I haven't found yet in his other releases. 'Temple Of The Swine' has all the right ingredients, field recordings, and percussive sounds, a bit of drones, lots of use of delay, spread out over three pieces. If one has to compare it, I'd say that it no longer sounds like the foggy jazz nightclub atmosphere, but it is more like a more generic ambient album, which is not bad either. His previous release reminded me of zoviet*france, and that's something which serves well also for this new release. The music is more spread out, lengthier pieces and without too much compositional thought behind it. A lot of sounds are collected, all switched on at the same and a mix is being made in a rather intuitive way, introducing sounds as they come along, adding delay and reverb when necessary. But maybe Samways is also a bit too careful and nothing leaps out very much; that is, I think, a pity. Only in 'The Morning Tide' instruments are added, a piano loop of some hazy kind, but then not much happens around it. Don't get me wrong: I think Nigel Samways is a fine musician and 'Temple Of The Swine' is nothing but worthy; except that 'Havenots Havenever' has set the bar rather high, so that reflects on every subsequent release. Let that not withhold you from listening to new music by Samways, as there is plenty of ambient/drone beauty in this one. (FdW)”

Many thanks to Ed Pinsent from The Sound Projector for this warm write up of Nuclear Beach:

http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2014/12/14/riddley-walker/

From 6th March 2014 we have a package from Nigel Samways and his Ephre Imprint CDR label. The Nuclear Beach [Split EP] record is a split between Nigel Samways and Vecchi-Teller, and both acts provide their own sound portrait versions of the Nuclear Beach…the post-nuclear holocaust mood (a sensation I’m sure you all recognise) is caught nicely by the cover art, which could almost be an alternative dust jacket for Neville Shute’s On The Beach or a movie poster for The Day The Earth Caught Fire. I mention these to get you in the right frame of mind for the gorgeously restrained and quite English tone of these recordings. I could observe that neither piece is in fact very apocalyptic nor destructive in tone, and the whole album discovers a strange, compelling beauty in these post-atomic ravaged landscapes which it stalks with the measured tread of a Tarkovsky character. Samways does it through layers of instruments and recorded samples, assembling a lush and beautiful fabric. Limpid, watery drones are juxtaposed with synth washes playing strange half-forgotten memories; ghostly percussion clacks away like waves on pebbles. The spare samples of seagull cries are especially evocative, as is the intoning voice of a man which appears to be reciting poetry through the wrong end of a telephone. Samways himself provides some lovely magical-realist descriptions of the instrumentation: “a mutant shellfish drum set, a radioactive cormorant choir conducted by the ghost of John Bunyan, plus The Incredible Melting Baby Jesus Holiday Players.” If you’re keen on the Skaters, this is the record for you, although a comparison point nearer to home might be the ghostly drone music of English player Xela (i.e. John Twells). Now that I think of it, Samways and Xela should team up to make a record together, with added field recordings and production by Ian Watson, but perhaps the world is not yet ready for that. Astonishingly vivid and touching, this is like a dream from which you won’t want to wake up.

Vidi magizer in anti-HD by Foss Moigne. Sounds by Nigel Samways.

Excerpt from ‘Nuclear Beach’ by Nigel Samways. Taken from the ‘Nuclear Beach’ Split EP by Nigel Samways / Vecchi-Teller Released on Ephre Imprint 2014.

The 'Off_Herzios' Sound Art Festival, features an Audiotalaia related sound installation. This includes music from my 'Mirror' EP from 2011.

The Off_Herzios Festival is in Valencia, Spain and runs between January and April 2014.

This 2011 EP, originally released on Ephre Imprint is now available for download. This is a slightly different mix of the EP and Nine Barrow Down (actual) has an extended intro section.

This release is now available on Bandcamp for download.