Sam Eastgate, AKA LA Priest, has always had maverick tendencies, but with his second album, GENE, he’s come up with his most inspired invention yet.
Arriving four years after the iconoclast variously known as Sam Dust, LA PRIEST and La Priest thrilled the world with the cosmic pop of his debut album Inji, his first LP for Domino and his first solo output following the disbanding of former outfit, Late Of The Pier. GENE also follows the 2016 project Soft Hair, in which Sam teamed up with Connan Mockasin for an instant cult-classic album.

GENE, the album, is named after a brand new analog drum machine Sam dreamt up and built alone. Working in isolation for more than two years, soldering iron in hand, Sam developed the inners of GENE using dozens of electrical circuits he made up himself. Its unique rhythmic patterns are the focal point for the album, which is coloured by lush, pastoral tones. Where before there were traces of the far out stylings of Late Of The Pier, the band that made his name, Aphex Twin and Ariel Pink, now there are shades of Arthur Russell, Prince and even Radiohead.