Sampha - Lahai

Six years after the grief-stricken Process, Sampha returned in 2023 with Lahai, a luminous second album that trades mourning for wonder.

Named after his paternal grandfather, a name Sampha also carries as his middle name, the record reflects a new chapter shaped by fatherhood. Sampha thinks about mortality, connection and the world his daughter will inherit, folding in ideas drawn from Afrofuturism and particle physics along the way. He produced it alongside collaborators including El Guincho, Kwake Bass and Kwes, with Owen Pallett arranging the strings.

The drums are the secret weapon. Working closely with Kwake Bass, Sampha blurs played and programmed rhythms until they skitter and flutter like something alive, and drummers Yussef Dayes and Morgan Simpson add to the restless pulse. "Spirit 2.0" floats on rippling piano and breakbeat energy, while "Only" is a tender, slow-blooming confession. "Jonathan L. Seagull" takes its cue from the famous novella about a bird determined to fly higher than the rest of the flock.

Guests such as Yaeji, Léa Sen, Ibeyi and Little Simz drift in and out without ever crowding his fragile, soulful voice.

Gentle yet quietly radical, it is a record that rewards close listening and reveals new details with every spin, especially late at night.