Sampha
"The Process
(Young Turks (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK))
Like the process of rebuilding the 76ers that fans have been asked to so patiently trust, Sampha's "The Process" has been a long time in coming. The British songwriter born Sampha Sisay released his first EP, "Sundanza," in 2010 and has slowly and steadily built anticipation for his full-length debut with carefully plotted, ever more high-profile collaborations with Solange, Drake and Kanye West. "The Process" comes to haunting fruition on this powerfully personal collection, in which the south London singer carves out an electro-soul space akin to post-modern R&B purveyors like Frank Ocean (whose "Endless" he also guested on), but with an even more intimate alone-at-the-keyboard sensibility. Sampha's becalmed vocals expertly convey emotional fragility in songs in which skittering beats and heartfelt musings are rarely at cross purposes. The most effective performance on "The Process," though, is "Nobody Knows Me (Like the Piano)," which finds him giving props to the instrument in his mother's house to which he owes his self-realization: "You would show me I have something some people call a soul." _ Dan DeLuca
