Process

The Artist

Sampha Sisay is a British singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist of Sierra Leonean descent, raised in Morden, south London. His sound draws from soul, R&B, and ambient electronica, built around his distinctive piano playing and a voice that carries an almost unbearable tenderness — high, searching, and raw. He first gained wider recognition through collaborations with Drake, Solange, Kanye West, and Frank Ocean before stepping fully into the spotlight as a solo artist. Process is his debut full-length album, arriving after years of groundwork and representing his most fully realized artistic statement to date.

The Album

Process was released in February 2017 on Young Turks, the London independent label that also home SBTRKT and The xx. Much of the album was written and recorded during and after his mother's illness and death from cancer — a defining emotional fact that permeates nearly every song. Sampha produced the majority of the record himself, working with collaborators including Rodaidh McDonald, and built a sound world that balances intimate piano-led arrangements with textured electronic production and subtle orchestration. It won the Mercury Prize in 2017, bringing Sampha the recognition his peers in the industry had long believed he deserved.

Listen For

The piano as emotional anchor. Sampha's piano playing is not merely accompaniment — it is the emotional spine of the record, sparse and deliberate, never overplaying. On "(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano," the instrument becomes a literal stand-in for his late mother and for his childhood home.

The voice as an instrument of grief. Pay close attention to how Sampha deploys falsetto — particularly on "Plastic 100°C" and "Blood on Me" — not as a stylistic flourish but as a way of reaching for feelings that ordinary register cannot hold.

Tension between stillness and rupture. The album frequently moves between hushed, near-ambient passages and moments of startling intensity. "Blood on Me" is the clearest example, a propulsive, almost nightmarish track that stands apart from the record's quieter surroundings.

A lyrical moment of extraordinary simplicity. On "(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano," the line "You would show me I had something some people call a soul" is devastating in its plainness — no metaphor, no ornamentation, just the bare statement landing with full weight.

Loss, home, and the body. Across the album — especially on "Indecision," "Under," and "Timmy's Prayer" — Sampha circles recurring themes of physical and emotional displacement, exploring what it means to grieve a person while also grieving a version of yourself.