song: samphire
(© 2025 Gudrich/Gudrich)
Album: Exile from Mainstream
This beautiful, harmony-laden grunge ballad, which would sit well on the classic Alice in Chains EP Jar of Flies, explores a type of nightlife which many people in our society never get to experience: the nights full of life in nature. In his day job, Xavi leads people through local woods and helps them see and connect with the wildlife all around them, from snails to bats, from badgers to moths. Instead of being stuck in front of the TV in the evening, which “sells prefabricated feelings”, Samphire encourages the listener to step into the darkness and connect with their wild selves: “Walk with me among the peace of the samphire as the sky turns black…”
Lyrics
The owl holds the night sky under silent wings.
The crab blows bubbles by the shore.
The fox knows the alleys around the Market Inn.
The radiolars have risen from the sea floor!
Walk with me
among the peace of the samphire
as the sky turns black, sky turns black.
The bat is navigating by a line of trees.
The badger drags some bedding out to the fresh air.
The moth is aflutter in the moistened canopy.
The snails have emerged beneath the old flint stairs.
Walk with me
among the peace of the samphire
as the sky turns black, sky turns black.
Humans clutch remote controls
As the day remains untold.
The windows shut, the shutters down.
Fearful minds locked up in town.
“Have another biscuit, dear.”
“No thanks, I’ll have another beer.”
The TV sells pre-fabricated feeling.
Maintaining light under the ceiling.
Walk with me
among the peace of the samphire
as the sky turns black, sky turns black.
Liner notes
vocals - Xavi | rhythm guitars - Xavi | bass - Xavi | bass - Sunny | lead guitar - Sunny | recorder - Sunny | harmony vocals - Sunny | ukulele & cuatro - George Partner | nun choir - Sunny
Recorded at Catfish&Crow Studios, 2025 Engineered by Sunny Gudrich
℗ Gudrich/Gudrich 2025
Story
We take walks at night all the time. The streets are empty and TV screens illuminate almost every single living room, feeding people with mind-numbing mainstream consumerism (and the odd excellent movie or interesting documentary, no doubt...). Meanwhile, outside, the real world is alive! We want to encourage people to step out of their well-lit, plushy comfort zone and explore the darkness, both figuratively speaking and in the true sense. If we want to experience life, we can't expect to comfortably sit in the light all the time and shut out the dark. And if we want to feel more connected to nature, we need to embrace her completely, day and night. So we invite you to walk with us among the peace of the samphire.
Samphire is a salt marsh plant - Xavi has a special connection to salt marshes because he did his master thesis research on carbon storage in UK marshes and did a bunch of fieldwork both on the East and West Coast of the UK. You can read his thesis here.
