Sampha Says: He Doesn't Take Songwriting for Granted

British singer-songwriter Sampha is performing for the first time in Miami this month, but he's not exactly a stranger to town.

"I did quite a lot of writing out there for this record," he tells New Times. "I was just trying to progress the record a bit, and I would go to the beach, listen to music, work in the studio, and sort of repeat the process there. So I think it's going to be cool coming back to that."

A Londoner by birth, Sampha had come to Miami to work with Spanish producer El Guincho, best known for his work with Rosalía, and one can certainly hear the city's influence on the resulting record, Lahai, titled after the artist's middle name. (His full name is Sampha Lahai Sisay.) Away from the cold and rain of England and immersed in the blue skies, turquoise sea, and invigorating heat of Miami, it's no wonder he made a record that sounds so uplifting, full of bright, yet contemplative arrangements indebted to London jazz groups such as Speakers Corner Quartet, the band of his touring musical director Kwake Bass.

Sprightly pianos bounce and flitter on "Dancing Circles" and "Stereo Colour Cloud," while skittering drums mesh with bleeping synthesizer notes and organ chords on "Spirit 2.0." Lyrics abound with evocative imagery of flight and levitation, such as on "Suspended": "I've been lifted by her love/I fell lifted from above." On "Spirit," Sampha sketches an intimate conversation, painting a scene so specific yet universal we feel as if we're in the room, watching, or perhaps participating: "Lyin' in reflections/Moonlight hits your skin/Safe in conversation/You question where I've been/Two bodies on this mattress/Save me as it sinks."

"My main strength, or the thing that I gravitate towards, is trying to create an image or a feeling, as opposed to sometimes even telling the story or wanting to express like a very particular narrative," Sampha says. "It's almost like a sort of sonic aesthetic approach, sometimes, to lyrics. I feel like I've been trying to weave more of my life into the lyrics, and there's still quite a tapestry of subject matters. Even within one song, I might be talking about five different things. But that's kind of the nature of the record." 
Lahai is only Sampha's second solo album since he began working in music about 15 years ago. He started out as an intern for his current label, Young (then known as Young Turks), in 2009, during which time he met future labelmates the xx, whose music he remixed, and collaborators like El Guincho. He made a name for himself as a vocalist in 2012, thanks to a feature slot on producer SBTRKT's song "Hold On," and his sonorous, distinctively accented baritone soon entered influential ears as far away as North America.

Since then he's featured on songs by Drake, Solange, Kendrick Lamar, and, perhaps most famously, on Kanye West's "Saint Pablo" in 2016. He's also notched various behind-the-scenes credits for a variety of artists, from writing for stars like FKA twigs, Alicia Keys, and Travis Scott to recording backing vocals for London alternative acts like Laura Groves and Mount Kimbie. But it's not as if these activities are what keeps him from putting out his solo material.

"Making music can be quite an intense process, and songwriting isn't my most natural thing. Actually, I find it very difficult," he says. "I don't have this burning desire to express myself through lyrics. I do it, and it's something I enjoy doing, but it takes me some time."

Process, Sampha's Mercury Prize-winning debut album, perhaps exemplifies this difficulty. The 2016 record was made in the wake of his mother's death from cancer, and tracks like the anguished "Blood on Me" and the soaring ballad "(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano," exhibit all the mournful intensity of someone working through grief. After such a fraught experience, it's no wonder he took so long to record a followup. Lahai, made after the 2020 birth of his daughter, required Sampha to progress those themes of loss, and the resulting record is perhaps more complicated, looking forward to resolute, paternal responsibility rather than back to filial introspection. They're both serious records from someone who takes his music seriously.

"I don't mean to mythologize it, because I feel like I could probably make a good album in two weeks if I was in a good place," Sampha says. "But it's just who I am as a person. I don't take it for granted."

Sampha. 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, at Miami Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; 786-453-2897; miamibeachbandshell.com. Sold out.