Sample The Sky is an enchanting journey through London's borderlands, with organic electronic production, passionate lyrics, a saxophone inspired by the sound of the wind, all woven into intricate pop songs. The first single Portals communicates a particularly profound moment in Laura's life. "During the lockdown I lived with my family and grandparents. My grandfather, who was 94 years old, became seriously ill and died in his bed, surrounded by my mother, grandmother and me. We were all taking care of him, and it was a time when the world was in chaos, but it was also a real honour to be there and pay so much attention to this process. It was a very natural death. The moment he left his body it was like he went from being there to being everywhere. That is what this song is about, a portal to the unknown. He had a green thumb and he believed so much in returning to the earth, in the interconnectedness of everything and the fact that we are made of elements that will one day reunite with everything else."
Born with decidedly different assumptions from his previous works produced in his bedroom - the EPs Playground e Lonely City published in 2017 and 2019 respectively - in Sample The Sky Laura has opened up every aspect of the creation process or her community based in South London. This veritable commune is home to musicians as well as painters, florists, dancers and tapestry weavers. Although it took years to compose some of the tracks, the catalyst for the record's crystallisation was the collaboration with composer and producer William Arcane. Every sound on the record was reproduced, synthesised or recorded from scratch, shaping it into its almost final form before interweaving with Laura's newly formed live band performances: Marysia Osuharp and TomĆ”Å” KaÅ”par on guitar.