Sampha’s highly anticipated second album LAHAI starts how all the best projects do: “I was just dealing with a few things” he offers plainly. It’s a statement that only hints at LAHAI’s immeasurable scope and ambition. If Sampha’s debut Process was the sound of an artist figuring out his own place in the world, engulfed in the shadows of grief and loss, LAHAI opens to new life and lives in awe of what the future holds. LAHAI is an album that searches for what Sampha terms “beyond-ness”, time travelling through generations of people, sounds and places, exploring the multitude of ways we as humans try to connect to each other, and to something bigger than us.
From the very first notes on album opener “Stereo Colour Cloud (shaman's dream)”, as high-pitched keys twinkle in a frenzied loop and broken lyrics flicker in the breaks between, it captures a snapshot of the exquisite kind of chaos that one experiences confronting the cycle of life. When the punchy breakbeat cracks the track open after a few bars, Sampha hopes, “I think we found ourselves a sacred place, a place to dream out loud.” Adding in person, “sometimes it’s necessary to be able to dream, to connect to different realms, as a method of survival or of finding the fuel.”
Much like our dreams, LAHAI defies clear categorisation – both captivatingly vivid and blurred at once, almost impressionist in nature. Spanning jazz, soul, rap, dance, jungle, and west African music, LAHAI captures the expanse of Sampha's ever- versatile musical inspirations. Taken from his paternal grandfather’s name, which is also Sampha’s middle name, LAHAI revels in the awe and magic of our existence, examining time, science, family, love, and spirituality. It’s no wonder that throughout LAHAI there are sparkling glints of sci-fi, afrofuturism and magical realism that seamlessly coalesce, transporting the listener into the supernatural world.