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Friday, March 29, 2024

‘Process’ reveals Sampha’s raw, personal story

With the release of Process, Sampha, the rising British star who has been working in the shadows for so many years, has finally come to the forefront. His tender voice cries out vulnerable lyrics so raw and honest, they shatter our hearts as if they were made of glass.

This enigmatic figure has already worked with Kanye West, Drake, Solange and Frank Ocean. After releasing two EPs, Sundanza in 2010 and Dual in 2013, music connoisseurs began to praise his immaculate vocals over simplistic layers of piano, strings and various synths. His fan base grew as people demanded to hear a full-length project.

Any time an artist takes such a long time to release an album after several years in hiding, they face gargantuan expectations. Process exceeds any and all expectations in the wake of his hiatus.

Empty space permeates the album like water through a sponge. Instead of thinking of a song as a blank canvas on which layers of synths and piano can be added, it’s as if Sampha starts with a jumble of instrumentals that he slowly strips away to reveal the calmness and tranquility of silent, empty space.

With such spacious production, Sampha’s honesty cuts even deeper.

“Plastic 100°C” reveals the anguish Sampha has gone through over the past years as a result of the pressure of fame and expectations from those in his life, giving us one of the most honest looks at the pain our idols feel. As Sampha seems to melt from the pressure around him, he goes into a hysterical frenzy of paranoia as “Blood On Me” quickly floods into our ears.

A nightmare come to life, “Blood On Me” is the manifestation of Sampha’s demons hunting him wherever he goes; awake or asleep, he is always trying to escape from the blood-lusted demons that want to break him down at his core.

In the most elegant way possible, Sampha tells the beautiful story of a mother-son bond on “(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano.” It is a heart-wrenching ballad about Sampha’s time caring for his mother as she suffered from cancer. Even on her deathbed, Sampha’s mother continued to teach him lessons just by spending time together.

As is the case with so many other songs on Process, the stripped back production gives a new depth to the message—a depth that allows us to fill the gaps with our own interpretations and experiences.

Process takes age-old messages of suffering, transforms them for the modern age, then strips away anything that isn’t essential to expressing the core of humanity. Its production sounds distinctly contemporary, but its sentiments are timeless. This timelessness present in Sampha’s lyrics allow him to focus on their spectacular delivery.

Because themes in Process have been expressed countless times, Sampha can personalize them to even greater detail without us getting confused along the way. A personal story that is accessible to all of us gives his different melodies and cadences a piercing feeling of empathy. Regardless of whether or not you’ve lost a loved one, felt heartbreak or had personal demons hidden deep down, Sampha makes you feel the same pain. His loss becomes yours. His heartbreak becomes yours. His sorrow becomes yours.

Sampha’s imagery is also exquisite. In “Reverse Faults,” he compares self-destructive tendencies in a relationship to driving a car with no brakes. In the end, everyone involved gets hurt, even if intentions were pure.“Under” uses literal ocean sounds to paint the picture of a struggle against the pressure to stay above water in a crippling relationship.

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We get a glimpse into nearly every facet of Sampha’s life in the years since he first emerged at the turn of the decade. Process works in two ways: as a diary of sorts for the singer and as a beautiful work of art that we can latch on to until we find peace with whatever troubles us.

Grade: A

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