Sounds of Growth & Love: Sampha Presents Lahai

By Jarris Jones

Music Journalist

As I built my music catalog, there were a few artists I vividly remember being at the top of my early music playlist. Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Childish Gambino, James Blake and Dom Kennedy. In the summer of 2014, I had just finished my second year of middle school with my mom working full time and having to share a room with my older brother, Jace. I found my headphones and the tablet my oldest brother Joseph gave me to be my safe space. With no money to my name, all I had was the music he already had downloaded on the tablet, and that is when I would hear Sampha’s Ep Dual for the first time. After listening to the EP, I had never heard such a heavenly voice and with songs that can move anyone to tears, I officially became a Sampha fan.

Six songs and seventeen minutes were all it took. After that, I found myself searching the internet for more Sampha songs. It did not matter if it was features, live performances or even snippets. I was hooked. As time moved on, I was eager for an actual full-length album from Sampha, and in 2017, his debut album Process would satisfy my music needs. Time only made his sound greater and richer. Songs like “Blood on Me,” “Under,” “Timmy’s Prayer,” and “(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano” made Sampha, in my eyes, one of a kind. The album showed Sampha at his most vulnerable thus far and spoke from the soul. The album covers dealing with grief, having lost his mother in 2015 due to cancer. 

Living off the high Process brought to my life, I was under the impression that tons of music from Sampha was on the way. Little did I know I would have to wait a gruesome six years, but with time comes growth, new experiences and change. Those six years changed me drastically and brought many new experiences. I would have to say the most significant change in my life was the passing of my grandfather, Leroy Evans in 2020. Not really knowing how to cope, I turned to music and Sampha’s album Process was there for me. I would come to find out about the changes and new experiences in Sampha’s life from his new album Lahai which was released Oct. 20, 2023.

The meaning behind the album’s title comes from his grandfather’s name. When Sampha was born, he was given his grandfather’s name as his middle name. Fourteen songs and a runtime of forty-one minutes make up the album Sampha, which delivers another heartfelt album that shows Sampha in a hopeful and happy place, with significant use of drum machines and synthesizers, all while maintaining his soulful sound. “Suspended,” “Jonathan L. Seagull,” “Evidence,” and “Can’t Go Back” have brought me as a listener immense joy. Track number ten, “Can’t Go Back,” introduces the world to his daughter, “Spirit, been looking for some evidence, lord knows my daughter here, she’s heaven sent.” 

Lahai has been a full circle moment for me, not only because of the album named after his grandfather but for the timing of it all. In an interview with “Vulture”, it is revealed that Sampha became a father in the spring of 2020, around the same time my grandfather passed away. As one life passes, another one is born, and the album Process was made out of grief. He used grief to create the album Lahai, made from a place of joy. The album comes at a time in my life when I feel the love from others all around me. Lahai has shown me regardless of the painful and tough times in the past. There is destined to be a time full of joy and love.