The Riff’s Album Club Recap

Check out what you missed at yesterday’s club meeting

Happy Monday everyone! For anyone who missed out on last night’s album of the month club chat, here’s a quick recap of the event.

What We Discussed

For starters, shout out to the attendees! Terry Barr Noah Levy Keith R. Higgons Rob Janicke Nita Jain Nicole Brown Alexander Briseño David Acaster. Excitingly, there were twice as many people this month! We had a lively discussion about Sampha’s Process album. There was no shortage of hot-takes and unique observations. Some of the most enlightening topics we discussed included the following:

1. The gap between albums.
2. Sampha’s vocal similarities to older R&B/hip-hop artists like Seal and CeeLo Green.
3. The use of electronic production in soul music and whether that makes the music feel “warm” or “cold”.
4. The standing of “(No one knows me) like the piano”.

Before we dived into the album and talked about our general thoughts I introduced Sampha’s artistic background. If you’re interested in Sampha’s career here it is below:

The Lead Up to Process

Sampha Lahai Sisay is a British singer-songwriter from Morden, South London. He is the son of Sierra Leone immigrants and grew up with four brothers. For the most part, Sampha is self-taught. As he was listening to his brother’s music around the house and experimenting on the family piano he began to craft his own sound. One of his older brothers even created a makeshift home studio for him where he developed his producing skills.

He used his new home studio to create grime and hip-hop beats. On Myspace, he would send these beats to like-minded musicians. Unfortunately, a lot of musicians weren’t initially into his beats so he would include his vocals in later iterations. Once the recipient musicians heard his unique falsetto and honey-soaked vocals Sampha’s music started to pick up steam around the social media platform.

Everything changed once London singer and producer Kwes came across Sampha’s music (then called Kid Nova and known mostly as a producer). After reaching out Kwes introduced a young Sampha to the local label Young Turks. From there, he would collaborate with British acts like Jessie Ware, Lil Salva, and SBTRKT.

Sampha also released two EP’s under Young Turks called Sundaza and Dual. While 2010’s Sundaza features spacey hip-hop production Dual was a moody and electronically soulful project.

Between Sundaza and Dual, a Canadian superstar by the name of Drake caught wind of Sampha’s music. Soon after, the two worked on music for Drake’s “Nothing Was the Same” Album. Sampha’s assistance on the late-night debut of “Too Much” on Jimmy Fallon in 2013 broke the London singer into the mainstream.

Since then, Sampha has been a highly sought out producer and collaborator. His ear for nostalgic melodies and heart-wrenching falsetto has helped artists like FKA Twigs reach widespread critical acclaim, Solange come out of her sister’s shadow, and Frank come back from a long hiatus.

By 2017 we were hearing Sampha in so many places but his own album. Process was a heavily anticipated project that reflected on the passing of his father, the death of his mother, his brother’s stroke, and series of failed romantic relationships.

With the help of musicians like Kanye West and Frank Ocean, Sampha found his voice in the mainstream and introduced himself to a world of newfound fans and casual listeners.

Next Month

It was so much fun to talk about this album with everyone. It was obvious that people really listened to the project and felt comfortable enough to share whatever feelings they had about it. If you couldn't make this month’s album clubs meeting, no worries! Next month, we will have another chat and with a fantastic host. I won’t divulge too much information yet. There are going to be more updates in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned!