London’s underground has a new voltage running through it, and it answers to the name SAMLOW. With his debut single “Magazine,” the Italian-born artist steps forward with a sound that feels both tightly controlled and electrically alive, indie-rock muscle wired into an electronic nervous system.
Built on prowling basslines, clipped synth pulses, and a chorus that lingers like static in the air, “Magazine” is less an introduction and more a transmission. There’s intent in every detail. The groove doesn’t just support the track, it drives it. Bass, SAMLOW’s first instrument, sits front and centre, grounding the song in low-frequency tension while guitars and synths spark around it like live wires.
Raised in a working-class household in the Italian Alps, Sam Gino learned early that rhythm isn’t abstract, it’s physical. Watching his father wire houses instilled a fascination with current, circuitry, and flow. That influence runs metaphorically and sonically through “Magazine.” The track hums with contained energy, suggesting movement even in its quieter moments. It doesn’t explode; it surges.
Produced at Cube Recording Studios in Cornwall with Gareth Young (The xx, Tom Meighan) and co-written with Bnann Infadel of Infadels, “Magazine” balances restraint and release with impressive precision. Young’s rhythmic focus gives the track a lean, kinetic backbone, while Infadel’s presence sharpens its melodic instincts. The result feels immediate rather than overworked, like something caught mid-spark rather than assembled piece by piece.
Lyrically, “Magazine” explores obsession and magnetic connection without melodrama. It’s about the kind of presence that doesn’t demand attention but commands it anyway. In a cultural moment saturated with noise, SAMLOW leans into subtlety. His vocal delivery mirrors the song’s ethos, measured, controlled, but simmering underneath.
What makes “Magazine” compelling is its refusal to overstate. The hooks are strong but not showy. The production is sleek but never sterile. It sits confidently in the space between indie wave and alt-rock, drawing from both without sounding indebted to either.
For an artist who has spent over a decade recording and touring behind the scenes, “Magazine” feels like a carefully timed arrival. It suggests someone who understands momentum, when to build it, when to hold it back, and when to let it hit.
If this is the first signal from SAMLOW, it’s clear the frequency is locked in.
