Sampha. Photo by Jesse Crankson.
Sampha has shared a short film titled “LAHAI: Time Travels Memories” a day before the scheduled release of his second studio album, Lahai. The four-and-a-half-minute video — directed by Sampha himself along with Caleb Femi, is a vivid dreamscape, featuring pink lightning, time-lapsed plant and hair growth, and a kora that warps into a futurist vessel with metallic orbs embedded in its body and bright bulbs of light sprouting from its neck. The clip stars Kadialy Kouyate alongside Sampha and credits Yaeji as a co-writer.
“I always remember when I first heard Worotan by [Malian singer] Oumou Sangare and how fresh it sounded to me, and the deep, I could say, transportive spiritual feeling I got from listening to it,” Sampha says in a press release. “It felt like something I’d heard in another lifetime or something…Thinking about that and the thread I feel through to funk, jungle, grime and minimal classical music… all these sounds that have influenced this album… I day dreamed this visual idea and at the root of it is connection to the self and beyond. Trying to find grounding in time and space…discovery and questioning… how and what I carry and how I have been carried. Memories, relationships and dreams. I’ve always wanted to get into film making and this is my first public voyage… a visual poem… my directorial debut.”
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Lahai — Sampha’s first full-length follow-up to his debut LP, 2017’s Process — is due out this Friday (October 20) via Young. Before sharing the new short, he released two cuts from the record, “Spirit 2.0” and “Only,” as singles. The final product will include guest spots from Stormzy, Nilüfer Yanya, Obongjayar, Léa Sen, and Elmiene. Check out its cover art and trackllist below, and scroll further for Sampha’s upcoming live dates.
Lahai cover art and tracklist
1. Stereo Colour Cloud (shaman’s dream)
2. Spirit 2.0
3. Dancing Circles
4. Suspended
5. Satellite Business
6. Jonathan L. Seagull
7. Inclination Compass (Tenderness)
8. Only
9. Time Piece
10. Can’t Go Back
11. Evidence
12. Wave Therapy
13. What If You Hypnotise Me?
14. Rose Tint
Sampha fall 2023 tour dates
October 29 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom *
October 30 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom ~
November 1 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre ~
November 3 - Detroit, MI - Royal Oak Theatre ~
November 4 - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall *
November 5 - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall *
November 7 - New York City, NY - Webster Hall *
November 8 - New York, NY - Webster Hall *
November 9 - New York, NY - Webster Hall *
November 11 - Washington D.C. - The Howard Theatre *
November 12 - Washington D.C. - The Howard Theatre *
November 13 - Philadelphia, PA - Franklin Music Hall ~
November 15 - Atlanta, GA - The Eastern ~
December 4 - Berlin, DE - Theater Des Westens *
December 5 - Amsterdam, NL - Royal Theatre Carré *
December 7 - Paris, FR - Cirque d’Hiver *
* In the round
~ Tickets available
