A Sampha solo album is something that we’ve needed for a long time. The singer-songwriter has spent years as a secret weapon for everyone from Beyonce to Drake, and his early previews of his first solo effort like “Blood On Me” and “(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano” only ratcheted up the anticipation for his debut full-length. Now it’s finally here, and it’s as dense, weird and lovely as we all wanted.
Over skittering drum patterns, layers of electronic instrumentation and (of course) loads of piano, Sampha’s fragile voice always manages to stand out. Sampha told Rolling Stone that the ultra-vulnerability he exhibits on Process is, counter-intuitively, just another character.
“I definitely hear some of my songs back and think, ‘I want to give myself a pat on the back,'” he said. “But I’m not necessarily like that in my day to day. I’m not quite that vulnerable. It’s a little bit of – I wouldn’t say exaggeration, but it’s an amplification of something.”
However, the songwriter does hope that people are able to connect to that persona.
“I want to leave music that some kid is going to find and put on some headphones and [it will] just transport them, like I was when I was into records,” he said.
Process is available to stream now via Spotify. Give it a listen up top and catch Sampha when he tours with The xx later this year.
