Sampha's 'Process' - Vulnerability Personified

   Mortality is the reality, we live to die. Reminders of this fact even subtle ones can have either crippling or motivational effects or both, depending on the circumstance and each individual. Sampha’s long overdue debut album is a hauntingly beautiful examination and somewhat an appreciation of this inescapable reality. An acceptance that everyone and everything will pass away, only the haunted and troubled in between matters.

‘Can’t Get Close’, the final song off Sampha’s 2013 ‘Dual’ EP was heart-wrenching ballad dedicated to his father who died from cancer when he was 9years old. Since then Sampha has been largely quiet in terms of solo releases but he’s worked with Jessie Ware, Kanye, Frank Ocean and Solange majorly acting as an emotional buffer/interlocutor while creating riveting pieces with these artists. As glamorous as working these big names were he had to deal with the death of his mother from cancer in 2015. All the feelings from this tragic loss coupled his self-detached nature is put on display in a very honest yet silhouette-esque way. Sampha’s honesty is not in any way sappy, making the album title ‘Process’ seem cliché but in every sense apt.

Every emotion on ‘Process’ is put on wax with Sampha’s vocals always in the centre of the mix and an eclectic mix of electronic and soul music components transfers the ideal setting for these emotions to be felt. The minimal construction of one of the many standouts ‘(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano’ bleeds all the grief from the death of his mother, it is a heart-swelling mix of piano chords, partly muted percussions and Sampha’s raw vocals. When he sings “You need to cuddle me and never never let me go”, it is the culmination of the pain of his loss. His mother’s spirit hovers on the electro-tropical backdrop of ‘Kora Sings’, even with poppiness in the instrumentation he still deflates to his grief: “We don’t have to talk, I just need you here/But if you go away, please don’t disappear”. Not only does he have to process his mother’s death, his own mortality is also a cause of worry. A lump was found in his throat sometime recently and the doctors after extensive testing couldn’t determine what caused the lump. “Living with my worries, I didn’t even know what that lump was” he croons unassumingly over alien sounding synths on album opener ‘Plastic 100oC’. His vivid imagery accompanied by adrenaline filled drums on ‘Blood on me’ portrays his demons and fears in a lucid manner, fears that also keep washing and crashing on him like waves on ‘Under’. Not only humans can die on this album, love can too. There’s palpable regret from acceptance oozed on ‘Reverse Faults’ over Atlanta trap drums and skittering synths. The album’s first single ‘Timmy’s Prayer’ presents a much more vivid imagery of regret over lost love accompanied by drums that sound like they’re being washed with tears and a cleanly sung falsetto hook.

Sampha’s display of vulnerability is potent but never overwhelming due to the fact that emotions are clear but some circumstances are held back expertly. “Don’t let your heart hide your story/Don’t let your mind hide your story” he sings on the penultimate track ‘Incomplete Kisses’ and he shares his story in a very compelling and emotion provoking way.

Tracklist
1. Plastic 100°C
2. Blood On Me
3. Kora Sings
4. No One Knows Me (Like the Piano)
5. Take Me Inside
6. Reverse Faults
7. Under
8. Timmy's Prayer
9. Incomplete Kisses
10. What Shouldn't I Be?

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The bar has being set for music in 2017 and boy, it is a high one.
Writer’s rating: 4.4/5

Words by Peter Adedotun Dennis (@ayo_dennis)