Samoans – Laika: Exclusive Album Stream

Recorded over 12 days at Stompbox Studios in Pontyclun, South Wales, ‘Laika’ is the deeply rich and rewarding record that Samoans have been threatening to make ever since they first crawled out from the underbelly of the Welsh alternative rock music scene in 2008. Their 2014 Welsh Music Prize nominated debut full-length ‘Rescue’ was infused with a sense of maudlin fragility, no doubt in part due to the fact that record was written whilst frontman Daniel Barnett was recovering from a broken back.

If ‘Rescue’ was written from the perspective of being constrained, ‘Laika’ takes on a more worldly approach, widening its horizons to issues that affect the planet as a whole and the lengths we go to as a species in the name of progress. Rather than remaining earthbound, ‘Laika’ has its sights set on the stars. As Daniel simply and succinctly puts it, ‘I think we’re beginning to sound more like ourselves on this record rather than trying to be like other bands.’ The album is available on vinyl and digitally through Apres Vous Records on Friday 29^th September, but you can stream the it in full 4 days before it’s official release, exclusively with The Independent.

There are many influences that make up the idiosyncratic patchwork of ‘Laika’ and it is the manner in which Samoans interweave these disparate pieces together that sets them apart from others who merely seek to emulate their heroes. Whilst there are moments where one would not be surprised to learn that the four-piece grew up on a steady diet of Manic Street Preachers, Deftones, Nirvana, Radiohead and Mogwai, they never fall into the trap of sounding like a carbon copy of their idols.

Daniel divulges that his listening habits of late have mainly centered around a steady stream of ambient neo-classical composers and artists, such as Icelandic duo Kiasmos and German pianist wunderkind Nils Frahm. Throw in his usual diet of 90s alternative rock and the divergent elements that make up Samoans's sound begin to come into sharp focus.

The works of renowned American science fiction author Philip K. Dick, who produced 44 novels and 121 short stories over the course of his 53-year life, had a profound effect on Daniel during the writing of ‘Laika’. Ubik, one of Dick’s most acclaimed novels by critics and fans alike, is a direct influence on ‘Blindsided’. His 1977 semi-autobiographical novel A Scanner Darkly, later adapted into a film starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr, inspired the lyrics for ‘Counting Backwards’ whilst second track ‘Monuments’ is based specifically on one of Dick’s lesser known works; The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

‘I've always been interested in Philip K. Dick’ says Daniel ‘but the last few years I've started really devouring his novels. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch is about these people who are sanctioned by the UN to live on Mars. There's nothing there, it's a desolate life essentially and so they take this drug to escape their really s**t life, which takes them into this really weird, dark alternate reality. The whole song is about that book accept for the first line, which I’d written after being inspired by Martin Scorsese’s documentary about George Harrison (2011’s 3¹/₂ hour opus ‘Living in the Material World’). When John Lennon was murdered, George Harrison said that he was particularly upset that John hadn't managed to go in his own way. And so I wrote that opening stanza with that idea in mind; When I leave my body/I’ll leave in my own way.’

‘It's a bit dark but I like it’ Daniel continues with a chuckle. ‘A lot of the lyrics tie in with the themes of Philip K. Dick’s books and his outlook on life, which is quite bleak and dystopian. But like all good science fiction, it’s holding up a mirror to society and makes you think about how we are affecting the world around us as a species.’

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The idea of humanity making progress no matter the consequences feeds into the album’s title. Named after the dog that was used as a test subject during the Soviet space program, Laika became the first animal to orbit the Earth. A female mongrel stray found living on the streets of Moscow, Laika was selected to be the occupant of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 that was launched into outer space on November 3, 1957. Her survival was never guaranteed; indeed the technology to de-orbit hadn’t yet been developed and so Laika’s spaceflight was seen by the Russian scientists as a necessary sacrifice in order to further their space program. It was widely reported that Laika died when her oxygen ran out on day 6 of the spaceflight, however in 2002, it was revealed that Laika has in fact died mere hours after lift-off due to overheating.

‘As the album was coming into fruition, it became obvious that many of the themes centered around Sci-Fi' says Daniel. 'I got talking to a friend about the album one evening and he very nonchalantly suggested that we call it Laika. It's usually really difficult to come up with a name for an album, something that encapsulates all the songs you’ve been working on in just a word or a phrase, but I think ‘Laika’ rather neatly sums up the whole record. The position that the dog was put through, to be a test subject essentially, to see whether humans could handle space; it's about the sacrifices we make or the sacrifices that we force onto others in order for humanity to make progress. For me, that’s a big theme of the record. Laika's a really iconic figure in human history, even though not many people even know she existed.’

The narcissism of the human race at the expense of others interweaves its way throughout ‘Laika’. With the likes of Hurricane Irma and Harvey causing 185 fatalities between them in August of this year alone, climate change is an issue that weighs heavily on Daniel’s mind and one suspects he wishes it would weigh just as heavily on the minds of those who have the power to decrease its effects. ‘Terra’, with its repeating refrain of ‘It’s a lie you can handle’ neatly and succinctly surmises the denial that so many are willing to adopt up against insurmountable and overwhelming evidence. ‘Essentially, I'm really pissed off with climate change deniers’ Daniel seethes. ‘This attitude of ‘I'm not going to be around to have to deal with the consequences of it, so I'm just going to live my life how I want to' utterly enrages me. I find it unbelievable how short-sighted people can be and how inconsiderate they are of future generations.’

Whilst the likes of Hurricanes Irma, Harvey and Maria have received fairly extensive news coverage across the media, Daniel is furious that certain Western news outlets don’t feel the need to give as much time or column inches to crises in the East. The floods at the end of August in India, Bangladesh and Nepal get far less attention, despite the fact that those floods have claimed at least 1,200 people’s lives, compared to Hurricane Irma’s 102. At time of writing, a rudimentary search of Google’s news articles on Hurricane Irma yields 20,400,000 results. In comparison, a search for India floods results in just 1,290,000. ‘The people that are being affected by that flooding in South-East Asia are crying out for help and no-one seems to listen’ Daniel says in exasperation. ‘It really infuriates me how the news chose to focus on disasters that are closer to home at the expense of those which are happening in other parts of the world; it’s as if those publications or outlets consider it to be second class news if it’s not happening in our back yard.’

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Daniels sociopolitics extend all the way to the album’s final song, 'People Against People Against Progress', a wistful, dreamy coda that was inspired by the Occupy movement, specifically the Occupy Wall Street protest that garnered such widespread attention back in 2011. ‘I think that was a really good, positive movement and if they'd just kept going a little bit longer, I think they could have made some really significant changes to society. The song specifically is about the police brutality that occurred against people who were protesting peacefully. Despite that, it’s actually a very subdued song because I wanted it to make you feel as if you were in the middle of a riot that’s happening in slow motion.' He chuckles again, before signing off with 'It’s an usual way to look at that subject, but that’s what we tend to do in Samoans.’

Laika is released on vinyl and digitally through Apres Vous Records on Friday 29^th September and its available to pre-order now. Samoans begin a 4-date tour of the UK on November 9th in Bristol