Sam Morton’s debut album Daffodils & Dirt will be out on June 14th, and she’s just shared new single Double Dip Neon.
The acclaimed actor and director usually uses her full name of Samantha and has led a long career in film and television.
Many viewers first got to know her from the gritty British 90’s drama Band of Gold. She’s gone on to appear in films including Minority Report, Jane Eyre, Sweet and Lowdown, John Carter, In America, Control and The Libertine.
She terrified us as the evil Alpha in The Walking Dead, won acclaim for her portrayal of killer Myra Hindley in Longford, and made her directorial debut with the film The Unloved.
Now Morton has shortened her name and launched an unexpected music career. Teaming up with producer and co-songwriter Richard Russell, Sam Morton brings bluesy, hazy, trip-hop sounds to the fore.
Their album features 12 tracks and guest appearances from Alabaster DePlume, Laura Groves, Jack Peñate and additional vocalist Ali Campbell.
The collaboration came about after Morton appeared on BBC’s iconic radio show Desert Island Discs in October 2020 and Russell happened to be listening.
The weekly show, which has been running since 1942, asks a guest to chat about their life and career while sharing 8 songs they’d take with them if they were to be marooned on a desert island.
Rusell was struck not only by her Morton’s musical choices, including a shared love of one song in particular I Remember by Molly Drake) but by the way the music weaved through her lived experiences.
The pair connected and corresponded, swapping ideas, sketches and stream-of-consciousnesses. Finally, months later, they met in the studio and engaged in a period of spontaneous, intense and open-ended collaboration, one which proved to be a cathartic musical process for both parties. Daffodils & Dirt, completed during 2023, is the captivating result.
Double Dip Neon is the latest single and it’s got a dance vibe, and musical trainspotters might notice it uses a sample from It’s Alright by Sterling Void and Paris Brightledge.
Let’s Walk in the Night, is one of the album’s more ethereal moments. Morton directed its dreamy video that features Safia Oakley-Green and Conrad Khan.
They’ve also made an appearance on Later…with Jools Holland where they performed the song.
Cry Without End was the first taste of their musical output.
The album will feature the songs, Highwood House, Hungerhill Road, Purple Yellow, The Little White Cloud That Cried, Kaleidescope, Cry Without End, Broxtowe Girl, Let’s Walk the Night, Greenstone, Double Dip Neon, The Shadowm and Loved By God.
