Lahai

With its glitchy instrumental palette backing it, Lahai is a serene look to the future where Sampha can be at peace with his memories and can raise his family in a positive environment.

‘LAHAI’ is an astral soul coda that whilst intimately rendered, doubles as a pledge for connection and interrelatedness. We needed this.

While this is far less downcast, the joy, wonderment, and fond reminiscences in the songs are complicated by worry, uncertainty, and longing.

No matter who it is, we know who Sampha is: a generational talent who has once again delivered a rich, emotional work for us to process. Lahai is phenomenal.

Duelling forces are wonderfully rendered in the sound palette that Sampha has pulled together here, with production assistance from El Guincho on a number of tracks. The presence of myriad other talents including Yussef Dayes, Yaeji, Laura Groves, black midi’s Morgan Simpson – to name just a few – emphasises the album’s underlying theme of communality.

Lahai is a transformative album that explores themes like afrofuturism and magical realism across 14 tracks that span a multitude of genres, including soul, rap, jazz, dance, jungle and West African music. And it’s a record that’s as intimate as it is imaginative.

Mainstream R&B fans may be baffled at various points, but there will be few more engrossing albums this year.

LAHAI extends Sampha’s virtuosic career with a showcase of his limitless pool of influence, his songwriting ability, and, inevitably, his soul.

Lahai is less introspective and far from lonely, its persuasive positivity carried by a contained riot of euphoric synths, swelling violins, Chic guitars and skittering percussion. [Dec 2023, p.90]

Intriguing and affecting.