Samana was realised in the heart of an Austrian forest surrounding a secret lake 3000 meters above sea level, during a journey the pair undertook across the natural wildernesses and distant cities of Europe; unaware of when they would return or where the road would take them.
The name Samana provides an insight into the many conceptual layers that make up the band. As an ancient Sanskrit term, it speaks of one ‘who abandons the conventional obligations of social life in order to find a way of life more in tune with the ways of nature.’
Between themselves, Rebecca Rose Harris and Franklin Mockett are multi-disciplinary artists. Franklin crafts the instrumentation, recording, and production of the music to tape, whilst Rebecca Rose is the visionary behind the conceptual imagery, artwork, lyrics and film. The process by which all works are recorded is of great importance to Samana, who compose their art in their analogue recording studio and darkroom in the remote mountains of Wales.
Samana’s music offers a direct passage into the essence of ourselves, removing ones veneer, with threads of poetical sincerity, emotional honesty and direct openness. Each song is written with its own distinct weight and significance, born from the interpretation of dreams, the philosophies of ancient rituals and personal experience of love, loss and death. Through their rare and honest appreciation of dichotomy, their music emerges almost hauntingly, to lead us into the realms of the unassociated and unknown.