SOUNDTRACK: SAMPHA-Tiny Desk Concert #606 (March 21, 2017).
The name Sampha sounded sorta familiar. I see that he is a producer to the stars (Kayne, Drake). He’s also a musician in his own right. The blurb says “Sampha’s music is more feel everything than feel good, which is why his fans hold him so close to their hearts.”
Sampha plays three songs:
The vulnerability on his debut, Process, isn’t hard to dissect, but can be downright agonizing to digest; his immediate family has been riddled with disease and ailments, with both his parents succumbing to cancer. Process finds Sampha interpreting this complicated emotional prism — and confronting his own mortality through it.
Sampha stopped by the NPR offices to perform 3 tracks from Process. The result is a Tiny Desk Concert as intimate as it gets (and that’s saying something). It’s just him, a piano and these heart-wrenching songs that we reckon double as coping mechanisms.
“Plastic 100°C” is played on the keyboard with all kinds of trippy sounds introducing the main song. I like the main riff, which is full of interesting minor key notes. I’m not really sold on his voice though, which is kind of nebulous here. I’m not sure what his recording sounds like, but the starkness of this song makes me surprised that it is popular. It’s quite long as well–almost 7 minutes.
The final two songs are on piano
“(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano” is an ode to the piano and his reflecting on how important his mother was in his life. “Blood On Me” is an intense song with some intense singing. Neither one strikes me as being particularly poppy or marketable, but he clearly has found his audience.
[READ: January 20, 2017] “Quarantine”
The story was so interesting, both in content and pacing. I really enjoyed it a lot…until the end.
The story follows Bridget. As it opens, we learn that she lived in Barcelona fora year. She stayed with college friends, then she sublet from a guy named Marco. She slept with Bernadette and her roommate Laurie–but not at the same time–although the thing with Laurie upset Bernadette happy. Then she did something stupid in Marco’s apartment and got kicked out of there as well. She moved to a cheap hotel until her co-worker Angela rescued her.
Angela was from Vancouver, “and some dewy freshness that Bridget associated with the West Coast seemed to cling to her always, even when she was sleep-deprived or drunk.” Bridget is also from Canada. (more…)