Gene

At times, it feels like a test drive, pushing the boundaries to prove to itself what can be done. But when he concentrates his focus and narrows his noodling, it delivers substance and heft.

Gene is not restful, but it displays impressive commitment to following the whorls and helixes of its inner logic. [May 2020, p.86]

This is an intriguing record whose rewards come slowly but which leave a lasting impression. There is a restless quality to Sam Eastgate’s songwriting that feels very much of the times in which we live, but there is a warmly soulful side to balance it.

There are funk-pop uplifts too, but it's when he slows the pace down that Eastgate really comes into his own. [Summer 2020, p.101]

Much like its predecessor, GENE fuses flights of accessibility in parallel with the unorthodox, achieving a split-tone depth that at once evokes a murky, warbling uneasiness and in equal measure boasts splashes of untroubled psych-pop brilliance. Earworms deployed in quick succession, Dust helms familiar inventiveness and ingenuity that can sometimes feel a rarity.