Dr Samuel Murray BA (Hons) MA PhD PGCHE FHEA

Summary

Outside of his role at the University of Liverpool Sam performs, tours and records with the band Me and My Friends. He plays Clarinet in the group and helps compose songs across the 4 albums and 1 EP the band have released.

Over the past decade Me and My Friends have carved out their very own niche of sun-drenched music for the soul. Growing from the basements of Leeds to tours across Europe, along the way they have gained support from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Cerys Matthews, FiP, Soundway Records, and Quantic. Their whirlwind live shows are dedicated to creating the warmth and connection that all humans crave, with a penchant for tearing up their own tracks with explosive dynamism and spontaneity.

New album Before I Saw The Sea represents an audacious development in the band’s signature sound. Intimate and reflective, it is an immersive set of nighttime meditations conceived during lockdown, its laidback grooves combining bittersweet nostalgia with hypnotic rhythmic interplay. This is a record made to accompany journeys when none could be made, as we awaited the parting of the stormy clouds.

“A sublime fusion that combines pastoral dreaminess with the heat of highlife and Afrobeat sounds” Songlines

“Such interesting influences… beautiful” Cerys Matthews BBC 6Music