CHARLIE STARK LOVING MISSION EP
"In the studio with Charlie, the creative process is fluid and immediate. Songs grow naturally, guided by instinct, trust, and a shared sense of where the music wants to go.”
A collaborative Neo-Soul EP from Charlie Stark and producer Dan Samsa, blending intimate songwriting with cinematic production. Built together from the ground up, the record pairs Stark’s soulful vocals with silky string arrangements, live drums, layered choirs, and rich, expressive harmonies. The EP features a soft, reflective reinterpretation of Eleanor Rigby, reimagined through a contemporary lens. Groove-driven and emotionally direct, it combines organic live strings with soaring, resonant choral textures and atmospheric synths to create a spacious, rich immersive sound.
LOVING MISSION EP
“The album was written from the inside out, starting with sonic spatial textures, then the composed instrumentation sculpted around them.”
THE PROCESS
The Loving Mission EP was shaped through an intensive songwriting and production process, with careful attention given to arrangement, texture, and instrumental detail at every stage. Songs were developed collaboratively, evolving through multiple iterations of writing, recording, and refinement, with live instrumentation and electronic elements woven closely together to support the emotional character of each track. Piano, synths, guitars, and layered sonic textures were arranged and recorded with precision, allowing each musical element to contribute meaningfully to the overall narrative of the EP. Building on Charlie Stark’s existing cosmic sensibility, the arrangements lean further into that expansive sound world while using it to frame the songs’ introspective core, balancing emotional intimacy with a sense of scale and atmosphere.
ELEANOR RIGBY REIMAGINED
“We slowed Eleanor Rigby into winter, allowing its loneliness and fragility to come fully into focus.”
ARTWORK
The artwork for the Loving Mission EP was developed by artist Fybe:one, built around fractured glass forms that reflect themes of fragility, memory, and emotional rupture. Each release places a distinct symbolic object, flowers, feathers, a fossilised jawbone, and a meteorite stone, within these broken structures, suggesting moments preserved mid-impact. The imagery balances delicacy and tension, presenting love and human experience as something both vulnerable and resilient, suspended between damage and transformation.
CREDITS
vocals: Charlie Stark
piano | synths | choir: Dan Samsa
violins: Sophie Cameron - Elona Laurie
viola: Alison D'Souza
cello: Tristan Horne
drums: Tom Potter
mix engineer: Sonny Johns
recording engineers: Andy Hughes - Dan Samsa
mastering engineer: Matt Colton
written by Charlie Stark and Dan Samsa
produced by Dan Samsa