Lahai - Sampha: Review
Sampha
is a British R&B singer whose distinctive voice has been deployed in collaborations with artists like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Stormzy, Solange, Travis Scott, and more. His critically acclaimed debut album Process dropped back in 2017, Sampha took his time off pretty quietly really only emerging for the occasional feature until he began the rollout for this project earlier this year.
Review by Lav:
I love Sampha. Process was among the first albums I got to review for this blog and I gushed over it. That wasn't surprising as I loved the singles and was highly anticipating the project itself. That anticipation is arguably doubled, or more, for Lahai. Sampha has more than proved himself one of the most talented vocalists in all of music across the past decade or so. While Process had remarkable consistency, I was hoping that Lahai would be an even more definitive statement for Sampha. It is, and it's spectacular.
Lahai was led off by two great singles with Spirit 2.0 coming first. The song has a futuristic R&B style that's punctuated with a mesmerizing hook and absolutely gorgeous vocals from Sampha. I liked the second single Only even more. Every single refrains on the song is just so beautiful and the singing is blissfully dynamic. The more reserved and wordy verse transitioning into the simple but dramatically performed chorus and both sounding so incredibly good is something that only Sampha could pull off so well.
The opening 5 songs on the album are functionally flawless. Stereo Colour Cloud comes first and starts the record with this stuttering drum line that kicks into this otherwise expansive and cloudy musical space. Sampha and the guest female vocalist bouncing off of each other with these short little flashy refrains sounds great. I also love Dancing Circles which is built around this absolutely blissful little piano phrase. The song gets these extra flourishes of instrumentation throughout that I just love. The way the song is arranged and performed feel like gliding through an actual choreographed dance, it's fantastic.
My favorite deep cut on the album is the absolutely stellar Suspended. It's a genuinely stunning song with some of the most incredible moments to be found anywhere on the album. The first time I heard the drums kick in on the song my soul completely left my body and the chorus that follows it is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. The song gets better and better every single time I hear it.
The middle/second half of the album isn't quite as tightly assembled, but it absolutely has its moments. Inclination Compass is probably the biggest lyrical highlight on the album. It tells the story of a relationship getting back to the foundation of love at its core and god is it beautifully told. The song is pretty minimal in its presentation but it's all in service of an incredible narrative experience.
Can't Go Back has grown on me a lot with consecutive listens starting with the wonderful layers of vocals. Sampha's own repetition of the title phrase and the fluttering female vocals throughout are a great combination and the instrumental progression of the song builds to a magnetic and layered conclusion that I absolutely love. The final major highlight is What If You Hypnotise Me? which expresses a stunning sentiment. It's basically built around the idea of "what if you could make all of the 'what ifs' go away" and the way it unfolds on the song is wonderfully dynamic. Even though the instrumental is pretty cluttered it's still one of my favorite songs on the album.
While the album does have some interlude-type tracks and an outro song that are relatively low impact it doesn't really have any duds. Even my least favorite songs have more to do with economy of time than anything else. The literary referencing Johnathan L. Seagull is one of the spaciest songs compositionally and that can make the first half in particular feel a bit formless. But WOW the second half is fantastic intruding this vibrant percussion and beautiful layers of vocals. I feel similarly about Evidence which gets off to a slow start but eventually hits its stride. At its best the song is this bouncy little forest-level-sounding number with fantastic falsetto refrains.
Sampha has been away for 6 years and it feels like he spent every bit of that time on this record. From songwriting that conjures compelling ideas about love, memory, and perspective. But the progressive sounds of these R&B instrumentals are equally detailed and result in even more compelling moments digesting Lahai. As has always been the case though, Sampha's best tool is his voice and he's once again in peak for all across this album. The visionary ideas, versatility of performance, and genuinely progressive style of music come together to craft a fascinating album that makes all the time Sampha spent away feel absolutely worth it. 8.5/10
