LA Priest

Sam Eastgate, AKA LA Priest, has built a reputation as a subversive, unpredictable musician, consistently innovating over the course of his work with his breakout band Late of the Pier, his cherished Soft Hair collaboration with Connan Mockasin and his solo work as LA Priest.

Following the release of GENE, Sam received requests to build drum machines around the world, with one request from Belize inviting him to work at their studio. Swapping the Welsh borders for central America only to find upon arrival in Mexico he was unable to move to Belize due to travel restrictions, in that instant, what would become the third LA Priest album changed completely. Marooned by the beach in Puerto Morelos, Sam found inspiration from the sea.

Recording in Mexico and the rainforests of Costa Rica, Sam was struck by each area’s mythical history and ancient connections to the ocean, drawing heavily on both to pack Fase Luna with stories of spirits and imaginations of life on the ocean bed. Fase Luna weaves and undulates into the next, creating an immersive whole.

Without a synthesiser in sight, this is the purest LA Priest record yet. With drums laid down by local musician Carlos Gabriel Favela Manzano as Sam hummed the melodies, the closest the record gets to modern technology of any kind is the translation tool he used to write the Spanish lyrics of far out “fairy story”, “Sail On”. Raw and unfiltered, Fase Luna offers a one-way ticket to another world.

Fase Luna arrives May 5th.