British impressionistic neo-soul / R'n'B, with rather experimental instrumentation displaying a vast array of styles and a lot of minimalistic piano-driven flourishes. Probably a little overrated by professional critics. "Jittery with anxiety and indecision, yet poised and luscious" goes the Guardian's Alexis Petridis. Translate this as: "Decent compositions, unfortunately lacking memorable hooks and melodies, even if the tracks are well-performed and tastefully produced". As far as I know, the catchiest tune Sampha has ever written is the chorus for Kendrick Lamar's "Father Time", from *Mr. Morale And The Big Steppers (a quite *under*rated album this time around). And sadly, this chorus can't be found in *Lahai*. On a side note, the very short reviews left by the user who suggested this record were, more often than not, extremely grating and pointless. I count at least three French users on this generator who routinely wrote supposedly funny (and ultimately annoying) reviews like that. Kind of threw a shade on other French reviewers like myself, to be honest. Funnily, those reviews are as absurd as the tiny French-spoken interlude "Time Piece" in Sampha's LP. Yeah, you indeed wish you could go back in time and warn those users not to use the generator like that. I'm joking, of course. Or maybe I'm just in a sourpuss mood this morning, and listening to Sampha can't help, unfortunately. To be clear, my own prose has flaws as well: it is usually long-winded and admittedly takes itself a little too seriously. But hey, guys, at least I'm *trying* to formulate cohesive opinions here. College humour often ages poorly. In comparison, I find that (positive) review in the users' section where the reviewer's autocorrect turned Sampha's name into "Sampras" ten times more amusing than the arcane jokes penned by those other French reviewers. I'm now picturing a tennis game as an illustration to the songs in *Lahai*. Doesn't make the music any better, but at least it makes listening to it more interesting. 2.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 3. 7.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 2.5) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 12 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 16 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 30 (including this one).