XL Recordings

SAM MORTON – the musical duo comprising singer, songwriter and acclaimed actor and director Samantha Morton and music producer and artist Richard Russell – today release their second limited edition, vinyl-only single. The hand-stamped two track release, “Supplication / Headbouncing”, invites us even deeper into their world; one which pairs Morton’s unflinching, raw and, at times, devastatingly intimate singing with Russell’s spartan, multi-textured musical landscapes. On “Supplication” they’re joined by Alabaster DePlume, adding another intriguing layer to the release.

“Supplication / Headbouncing” follows the success of SAM MORTON’s sold out debut single “Hunger Hill Road / Ghosts Are Dancing”. Released in October, it was described by Boomkat as sounding “like a parallel universe Hype Williams, successfully teetering on the high-wire between order and chaos”, also adding how Morton “shimmied into experimental pop with rare grace, on a long-teased debut 7” that finds her slurring casually and seductively over lopsided, lo-fi production in the best way”. Meanwhile The Guardian, who placed the single at number 1 in their weekly F&M Playlist, described it as “eerie dub… skulking and spooked” and The Times as “a dubby, claustrophobic, souk’d-up song that wraps itself around you – with menace rather than affection”.

Despite a lifelong love of, and involvement in, music, SAM MORTON is Samantha Morton’s first ever artist project. It came about after Russell reached out following her much talked about appearance on Desert Island Discs and a shared love of one of her song selections in particular: “I Remember” by Molly Drake. The period of spontaneous and intense collaboration that soon followed yielded a huge amount of music and acted as a cathartic vehicle for Morton’s part-autobiographical lyricism and songwriting.

We can expect much more music from the sessions to be revealed in 2024.