Superstars keep calling on Sampha. Perhaps you’ve heard his vocals and piano on one of the many features he’s done for Drake, or maybe you caught his 2022 duet with Kendrick Lamar on SNL. The UK musician has been a coveted musical collaborator since his 2011 tracks with Jessie Ware and SBTRKT. His gentle tenor makes an earnest counterpoint to the reference-packed boasts of major rap stars and helps color in the pop-art visions of R&B and soul singers such as Frank Ocean and Solange. But he’s released only one full-length under his own name to date: 2017’s Process, where he explores his grief over his mother’s death with piano ballads and garage drum patterns. It appeared on a stack of year-end lists and won the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize.
Sampha became a parent himself in spring 2020. On his brand-new sophomore album, Lahai (due October 20 on Young), he addresses the fears and thrills of new fatherhood through soul melodies and rhythm arrangements that recall his youthful enthusiasm for house music. The two-word chorus on “Only” is straightforward in its message of devotion, but Sampha’s voice arcs across octaves and into a skillful falsetto that could thwart amateurs attempting to sing along. Bursts of horns feel like relieving the pressure changes in your ears on an ascending airplane. “Spirit 2.0” celebrates letting go of control and relying on loved ones for “Automatic self-protection / Like airbags in my limbs.” According to a recent Vulture profile, it’s his three-year-old daughter’s favorite song.
I appreciate when artists do what Sampha has here: take their time between projects and make each new release feel like checking in on a distant friend. I look forward to catching up with Sampha’s new material as well as old favorites such as “(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano” at this Riviera Theatre concert.
Originally published in Chicago Reader.