WILL SAMSON - Songs Of Beginning & Belonging

From Will Samson

'Loshult' was first conceived whilst on a residency in Sweden in April 2023, close to a village of the same name. The residency space was a former storage unit for trains, consisting of a large hall with huge ceilings and a piano – making it a perfect environment to work on spacious music – despite the cold.

Something in the initial idea reignited the excitement I had felt when first beginning to make instrumental music as a teenager – which had been somewhat lacking in me after the challenging times of the pandemic years. Over the following 10 months, I meticulously sculptured the track into its final album version, eventually adding and manipulating some percussion by the incredible Swiss percussionist Julian Sartorius.

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An ambient album tinged with subtle percussion and electronics that feels both delicately sparse and melodic, Songs of Beginning & Belonging is unified by a sense of quiet liberation.

British-born musician Will Samson has announced a new LP, Songs of Beginning & Belonging, set for release on January 31, 2025. The album will be released via the esteemed experimental Belgian label Dauw (Heather Woods Broderick, David Allred, Dylan Henner) and has been mastered by Taylor Deupree.

We spend much of our lives questioning—whether it’s the decisions we’ve made, the work we’ve taken or passed on, or the people we’ve found or left behind. Exploratory ambient musician Will Samson has spent much of his career grappling with questions of belonging and acceptance, both within the music industry and in his personal life.

“As a kid, I was often questioned about my ethnicity and never had much to say as a response. Then when I visited Nepal and India in early adulthood, many of the elderly locals were very curious to ask where I was from and would often not believe me when I said I was from England

Through my grandfather, who was born in Kolkata, there is a genetic link to the country that remains in my blood, but only enough to create some apparent ambiguity. I was mistaken for so many different nationalities and ethnicities that it became a regular part of my life.

I never understood why it was often necessary to present myself with a clearly defined label. Through music, I always aim to be feel free"

Having shared stages with artists like Efterklang and Ólafur Arnalds, Samson has long felt like an outsider, caught between being “too experimental” for some and “too indie” for others. His struggle to fit into a defined space has deeply influenced his music. After the pandemic derailed a major indie record deal, Samson grew disillusioned with the industry, reflecting on how his search for belonging had often been met with barriers.
Songs Of Beginning & Belonging is a new six-song album of ambient instrumentals that reflect on these experiences. This project marks a turning point in his journey, embracing a feeling of liberation and forward momentum.

Moving away from the themes of home and displacement that coloured his earlier works, the new album reflects a sense of inner peace and renewal. It is a delicate, meditative collection that underscores Samson’s growth as an artist and a person, driven by a desire to move past old wounds and start anew.

“This album is about freeing myself from old wounds and starting fresh and light. Where much of my previous albums have been about home and/or belonging, I now feel settled in ways I haven’t ever done before.” – Will Samson

About the album

Songs of Beginning & Belonging is an album that feels at once delicately sparse, at times even symphonic, but is tied together by a repeated and palpable feeling of quiet liberation - a determination for things to move forward rather than reflecting back on what’s come before.

Recorded between November 2022 and May 2024 in Will’s former studio, a secluded spot on the River Tejo in Almada (which he shared with Casper Clausen of Efterklang) as well as in the offices of ADDAC system - the album was made specifically for Dauw, who had asked Will to create a full length release for them. The album was, as always, largely recorded using his 1970's 'Uher 4200', plus a small collection of other tape machines that wind their way in and out of the recordings and shape in it in a beautifully singular way.

“Most songs took on many different incarnations until they got to the finished versions,” Will says of the finished album. “I wanted to make an ambient album that has melody and doesn't become self indulgent or lost in effects. Everything was very intuitive but also very intentional.”

And so we have ‘Loshult’, a track that begins with tranquil piano, continues on through a drifting fog of ambient noise, before finishing with a series of haunted drum bears, sampled & manipulated from the Swiss percussionist Julian Sartorius. Elsewhere ‘Faris And The Olive Buds’ is six-minutes of weightless, looping white noise, punctuated by occasional peeks of light, while ‘Still Trains’ shifts the mood once more, the album’s shortest track, at just two-and-a-half minutes offering a striking pattern of plucked strings and a swirling, bright atmosphere.

We finish on ‘For Now’, another beautifully considered moment that does right by Samson’s intention to produce something bound to melody. With a small rush of vocals it could be a hazy pop song, instead we’re left in that ambiguity, the album’s closing moment as tender as all that comes before it, the rich sound of artistic freedom.  

A moment of calm amid a journey of self-discovery, it’s a warm reminder of the niche that Samson has carved out for himself, over so long, even when the odds were so firmly stacked against him doing so.  

About Will Samson

Will Samson is a British-born musician, now residing in Portugal. With familial ties to both India and Chile, his music has often explored themes of belonging, home and identity – expressed through his blend of electronic, folk and ambient sounds.

Samson has released records through Wichita Recordings (American Football, Ride), 12k (Taylor Deupree, Ryuichi Sakamoto), Dauw (A Baleia + Lua) and even UK dance label Aus Music. Tours have included shows with artists such as Ólafur Arnalds, S. Carey, Kurt Vile, King Creosote and European festival slots at Rewire (NL), Explore The North (NL), Deep In The Woods (BE), Fusion (DE) and many more.

His work has been supported by Uncut, Mojo, Electronic Sound, The Sunday Times, BBC 6 Music, NTS, Loud & Quiet, Le Monde & many more.

Early album feedback

Gold Panda - "Will has made an excellent enveloping ambient album that can make you feel safe, warm and content." 

Lawrence English - “I shared a concert with Will a while back in Prague. I was deeply struck by his way in sound. He finds pathways, small cycling passages and orbiting fields, that operate with a lush and patient sense of time. On Songs Of Beginning & Belonging, he takes this methodology and layers into it a palette of reductive hues and radiant spectral tones. This is a record of generous sound worlds which manage to be minimal and expanding all at once. Will is a master of his craft and to exist in his music is a thing of great pleasure. Don't be afraid to dive deep.”

Büşra Kayıkçı - “Very nice and I love the textures! My favourite is Still Trains. To me, the sound of the wooden wind chime is the most beautiful and peaceful thing in the world.“