Notes new and old and for all times

A glittering and honest debut

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Sampha    —   Process    (Young Turks)  ****

After collaborating with fellow Londoner SBTRKT and contributing on albums of Drake, Kanye West and Solange, Sampha Sissay releases Process, his first full-length project in his own voice. Sampha has waited a long time for this. Exposed to an enviable variety of music from a young age, the album is a blend of different influences. The growth in Sampha’s musical style and emotional maturity throughout the record is reminiscent of his personal journey. He balances his electronica and songwriting flawlessly here, starting on edgy opener Plastic 100°C and continuing into early highlight Blood On Me. The Ballad, (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano, displays his sense of loss with heavy piano layers, while Kora Sings places his musings about a mother-son relationship amongst uptempo electronic rhythm. Co-written by Kanye West, Timmy’s Prayer features a versatile Sampha toggling between whispers and screechy shouts, but it turns phenomenal when it hastens towards a kaleidoscopic melody. The whole record is so fresh that even its most melancholy moments are uplifting. What Shouldn’t I Be? is a delightfully minimal ballad, evoking David Bowie’s Moss Garden in its instrumentation. Sampha is more than capable of elevating energy levels when the time is right. Reverse Faults and Under as electronic offerings are also very engaging. Sampha is making R&B-influenced electronic music that defies rationalisation, but that’s fitting for a clear first contender for album of the year.

Essential tracks: (No One Knows Me) Like The Piano, Kora Sings, What Shouldn’t I Be?, Under  

In control of their craft

Elbow — Little Fictions (Concord)  ***

Little Fictions, Elbow’s seventh album and the follow-up to their 2014 chart-topping effort The Take Off And Landing Of Everything, can be easily confirmed as their most intimate, casual, and soulful work. The album kicks off with Magnificent, pairing Guy Garvey’s towering vocals with understated strings and symphonies. The title track displays the band’s knack for creating textures and wrapping them with affection. The dramatic, Montparnasse, is loaded with creative keyboards and thrashing polyrhythmic beats, utilising a master sample of We Free Kings by Ginger Baker’s Air Force. The band’s experimentation certainly presses all the right buttons for a listener, especially the temperate Sad Captains. The electronica of K2 has Garvey rhythm-rapping about Britain’s blind stab towards Brexit, ‘full of blood, snot and teeth and the glory of no one’. This is the band’s first album since the exit of drummer and founding-member Richard Jupp, and the stress placed on drums here is a testament to the importance of Jupp’s role within the band. Fortunately session drummer Alex Reeves steps into Jupp’s shoes with ease. ‘Love is the original miracle’, sings Garvey on the title track, offering eight minutes-plus of band’s signature fragile rhythmical patterns. Gentle Storm carries the grip and rattle of a dim disco beat, while its lyrics explain romantic love in simple terms. The splendid melancholy of The River, one of Elbow’s strongest album cuts, is strikingly minimalistic in its musical poetry. Little Fictions’ beautiful intricacy hopefully foretells a fantastic year to come in the alternative music industry.

Essential tracks: Magnificent, Sad Captains, The River 

A beautifully orchestrated journey

Julie Byrne — Not Even Happiness (Ba Da Bing Records) ***

Up and coming folk singer Julie Byrne’s sophomore effort is a follow-up to her 2014 debut Rooms with Walls and Windows. Not Even Happiness is a more confident outing that adds electronic flourishes to Byrne’s unusual guitar tunings and melodies. On each track, her performance displays a real energy that keeps things enthralling even during its quietest moments. On opener Follow My Voice, Byrne sings, ‘I was made for the green, made to be alone,’ as she opts for solitude with a clever turn: ‘I’ve been called heartbreaker/ For doing justice to my own.’ You get a feel of panpipes whistling around mountaintops on Melting Grid. Throughout the album, Byrne contemplates her purpose in life as she takes a cross-country trip across America. Her melancholic voice leads the way on The Sea As It Glides, a song which is full of intrigue, to take the listener down a mystical path. Elsewhere, guitar still reigns supreme on Morning Dove and All the Land Glimmered. The tranquil Natural Blue promises its share of highs and lows. Sleepwalker is flourishing and tender, underpinned by gentle fierceness: ‘I travelled only in service of my dreams,’ she sings. The track has intelligent lyrics that deal with the dangers of sleepwalking through life and romance and shows off Byrne’s vocal skills intensely. The album offers a more cheerful spin of her rustic sound, but it’s still indisputably beautiful.

Essential tracks: Follow My Voice, Sleepwalker, The Sea As It Glides

Polished indie punk at its best

Cloud Nothings — Life Without Sound (Carpark Records)  **

Following their 2015 collaboration with Wavves frontman Nathan Williams, the band continues to create patchy indie-punk, as the tracks are loaded with fuzz-drenched grooves. Fans of the band should expect less of the frenzied, fast-paced rock that was prevalent in past works. Instead, the band opts for a more polished and smoother sound. The first couple of tracks are completely guitar driven, aggressive and sharp, that jump out immediately at you. Life Without Sound is another dynamic step forward for the band. Up to the Surface begins the album with piano, coupled with heavy drums and Baldi’s hoarse baritone as he sings ‘I knew peace in the terror of the mind.’ Tracks like Darkened Rings and Modern Act provide the assurance that the band hasn’t totally given up on what made them so popular as it absolutely tears through with Baldi’s torrid vocals, carrying you through uncertainty and angst. Key tracks include Things Are Right With You with Baldi’s sleek guitar work, as well as the punkish Strange Year, which playfully captures the best of the punk era. Enter entirely draws from 1990’s influences of grunge and displays Baldi’s vocal variety best, as the song fluctuates between screaming and innocent storytelling. Album closer Realise My Fate boasts of a thumping drumbeat until Baldi’s voice is cracking with madness and the music descends into chaos. Over the course of the group’s last few albums, the band has grown into mature music creators.

Essential tracks: Up to the Surface, Strange Year, Realise My Fate  

Top 10 Singles

Shape Of You.......................................................................... Ed Sheeran  (CU)

Bad & Boujee......................................................... Migos feat. Lil Uzi Vert  (FD)

I Don’t Wanna Live Forever.......................................... Zayn / Taylor Swift  (NM)

Million Reasons...................................................................... Lady Ga Ga  (CU)

Bounce Back.............................................................................. Big Sean  (CU)

Don’t Wanna Know................................... Maroon 5 feat. Kendrick Kamar  (FD)

Fake Love....................................................................................... Drake  (FD)

Love On The Brain....................................................................... Rihanna  (CU)

No Favors............................................................... Big Seat feat. Eminem  (NE)

Mercy............................................................................... Shawn Mendes  (CU)

Legend:(CU): Climbing Up    (FD): Falling down    (NM): Non-mover    (NE): New Entry