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The album that I chose to review is "Process" by Sampha, which was released earlier this year in Feburary. He is considered a mix of Pop and R&B, and is known for his artful music. This was his debut album although he had previously dropped a couple of EP's.  He is also known for some of his features, including a Drake song. His style of music is very soothing and smooth sounding, due to his great voice. Sampha is a British musician who was born in South London. He started gaining a lot of attention last year and ultimately had his biggest following when he dropped this album at the beginning of the year.

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This is Pitchfork's review of "Process" by Sampha.

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When Sampha Sisay was three years old, his father brought a piano into the family's Morden, England home. It wasn't a grand gesture-just a way to get his sons away from the TV. Yet for Sampha, the youngest of five siblings, the instrument became a vessel for his personal growth. It helped enlighten the young boy, offering solace and purpose, commencing a spiritual journey that he's still navigating. In Sampha's world, the piano is one of the few things that's always been there. It's never gotten sick or faded away from disease. "You would show me I had something some people call a soul," he sings on "(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano," a gorgeous ballad and one of many standouts from Process, Sampha's remarkable debut album.

The song-much like the LP-comes from a deeply meditative place, reflecting the innermost thoughts of a man still coping with heavy loss. His father, Joe, passed away from lung cancer in 1998. His mother, Binty Sisay, died of cancer in September 2015. Throughout the spare electro-soul of Process, you feel his mom's spirit in the stillness, pushing her son in his quest for understanding. Sampha's endured his own health struggles as well. He once discovered a lump in his throat while on tour; despite an endoscopy, doctors couldn't determine a cause. It became a catalyst for the singer to assess his own mortality here. "Sleeping with my worries," goes the opener "Plastic 100ºC," "I didn't really know what that lump was."

Sampha's career dates back to 2010 and the release of , his first EP. In 2011, Sampha was featured heavily on producer SBTRKT's debut album; his second EP, , followed in 2013. Sampha played the background from there, turning up on tracks with Drake ("Too Much," "The Motion"), Kanye West ("Saint Pablo"), Frank Ocean ("Alabama"), and Solange (" Don't Touch My Hair "). His presence was strong, even if his voice-a gentle, shimmering falsetto-added light touches to the scenery. Despite its delicate texture, Sampha's inflection hovers perfectly above the music, cracking at certain pitches to convey grief.

In a way, Process feels like a concept album on which Sampha rediscovers himself. The musician's mother was diagnosed with cancer the same year Sundaza came out, and as her primary caregiver, he naturally focused his attention on her well-being. Now, he's attempting to reconnect with his core while coping with despair. In the past, he'd mix his voice to fit within the instrumental; on Process, he makes it the focal point. Co-produced with Rodaidh McDonald, *Process *brings to mind James Blake while nodding to mainstream hip-hop. On "Under," in particular, Sampha utilizes a sleek trap beat.

Even the album's most upbeat tracks are shaded with tension. "You've been with me since the cradle," Sampha recalls on "Kora Sings," presumably referring to his mom. "You've been with me, you're my angel, please don't you disappear." With " Blood on Me," the album's second single, the vocalist sings through heavy breaths, seemingly haunted by his own insecurities. It addresses the fear of moving forward after personal trauma, and for a quiet soul like Sampha, it also speaks to the panic of navigating the world by himself. "I'm on this road now," he exclaims. "I'm so alone now/Swerving out of control now."

On album closer "What Shouldn't I Be?," you feel Sampha's air of prolonged detachment. It catches the singer at his most vulnerable, trying to remember the sketches of his childhood. Close your eyes, and you can almost see Sampha's family-happy, affectionate, and together. "I should visit my brother," he ponders, "but I haven't been there in months." His self-imposed isolation doesn't outweigh the song's overall premise: "You can always come home."

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When Sampha Sisay was three years old, his father brought a piano into the family's Morden, England home. It wasn't a grand gesture-just a way to get his sons away from the TV. Yet for Sampha, the youngest of five siblings, the instrument became a vessel for his personal growth.

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Biu

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Sampha is perched on a chair in a small, windowless room in downtown New York; it's late afternoon, and the 28-year-old singer-songwriter-producer is grasping for words to try to explain the effect of his mother's death, in 2015.

"It's one of those things you don't really expect," he says. "It's like losing an arm or a leg."

Two years ago, Sampha was coming off the success of working with Drake on "Too Much" and "The Motion," as well as putting together his debut album, Process, when his mother, Binty, succumbed to cancer at 67. The creative process was understandably halted. "I wanted to be ready to release an album -- emotionally, psychologically," he says, speaking barely above a whisper. "I wasn't quite ready -- writing a record and dealing with being out in the world, that increased level of attention upon me ... It's always hard to live with losses."

After spending nearly seven years as one of music's most coveted collaborators, Sampha heads into 2017 with his highly anticipated Process, out now on Young Turks/Beggars Group/XL Recordings. Despite his relatively short discography (a pair of EPs, 2010's Sundanza and 2013's Dual), the London native doesn't have the rough edges of a new artist. He speaks softly, yet his tone is measured. His sentences border on lyrical, and he often closes his thoughts with a definitive "yeah." He doesn't flinch, even at the most personal question. This quiet confidence is partly why he has been summoned as a featured artist by Frank Ocean ("Alabama"), Kanye West ("Saint Pablo") and Solange, among others.

"There's something quite unpredictable about being in the room with Sampha," says Jessie Ware, who worked with him on her 2011 debut, Devotion, and lovingly recalls how he tapped away on his Jomox XBase 999 drum synthesizer while making tracks like "Valentine" and "What You Don't Do for Love." "He is dialing into Mars, and then he's taking you on a crazy, cosmic journey. He can't stop all this amazing creativity flowing out of him."

Sampha Sisay was born in London -- the youngest of five brothers -- to immigrants from Sierra Leone and gravitated to music early, playing piano at the age of 3. "When you're the youngest, you're used to being more submissive and introverted," he says. His father died from cancer when Sampha was 9; at 12, one of his brothers introduced him to Cubase editing software, and music became catharsis. His first song, "God's Promise," grappled with faith. "I think there's a clarity when you're young," he says.

In 2008, Sampha connected with electronic artist SBTRKT on MySpace (via the screen name Kid Nova). "I had one song called 'Subconscious' where I was singing a little bit. SBTRKT liked my voice," says Sampha. SBTRKT released his self-titled debut in 2011; Sampha contributed lyrics, vocals and production and was featured on the lead single "Living Like I Do." The exposure resulted in Sampha signing with Young Turks, and like a juicy secret, his name circulated -- Drake, West and Rick Rubin soon came calling. "I didn't really advertise myself," he says. "I guess word-of-mouth is how all this happened."

For Process, Sampha retreated to Ocean Sound Recordings in Giske, Norway, in 2015, nestling into a picturesque setting between mountains and sea with co-producer Rodaidh McDonald ( The xx, Savages). A typical day included Norwegian rye bread and kefir (a fermented milk drink), and breaks to watch Seinfeld. He reflected on the most tender details, what he describes as the "little bits" of his mother and his relationship with her. "You tend to analyze someone a lot more after they pass," he shares.

The idyllic setting surfaced many of Sampha's vulnerabilities, too. "(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano" is about his mother ("You assure me I have something, some people call it soul," he sings), while "Timmy's Prayer" -- which began as an iPhone freestyle in the studio with West and has lyrical contributions from Ye -- and "Plastic 100°C" are wrenching love songs. Still, there's pleasure alongside the pain. "It can be melancholy," he says, "but there's a lot of life and energy in the instrumentation." In addition to West, there's Laura Groves on vocals, Pauli PSM on drums and, nodding to the African music he grew up listening to, Josh Doughty on a 21-string harp called the kora.

Sampha is slated to hit festivals like Coachella and Primavera Sound in 2017, and will open for The xx on the band's North American tour. "I want Sampha to be the breakthrough artist of 2017," says Stephen Campbell, head of Young Turks Records in the United States. He isn't worried about the slow burn; the label gladly has waited this long for Process. "What happens when you give an artist time is that the artist gets better ... It's very important he stand on his own. It's everything he's worked for."

Sampha is finally ready for the spotlight, too, although he's open about still processing his grief. "I think I'm becoming more content ... I've moved on from that head space and emotional space," he says. And then he adds, without reservation: "Still, there are lots of things that I need to deal with."
Sampha talks about the inspiration behind his songs "Blood on Me" and "Timmy's Prayer" and explains why he's excited for fans to see his live show: This article originally appeared in the Feb. 11 issue of Billboard.

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Kanye Co-Writer Sampha Prepares for the Spotlight After Family Tragedy

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Sampha is perched on a chair in a small, windowless room in downtown New York; it's late afternoon, and the 28-year-old singer-songwriter-producer is grasping for words to try to explain the effect of his mother's death, in 2015. "It's one of those things you don't really expect," he says.

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My favorite song of his

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Sampha - Too Much (live at Future Festival)

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Sampha performing Too Much as part of his live set for BBC Radio 1's Future Festival 2014