Sam Akpro – Evenfall review

Tired and wondering where his professional life was going, Sam Akpro melted all his feelings down into the track Death by Entertainment; musically jagged, on it he reveals how vulnerable things were (“Easily destroyed, easy to exploit”) before without much choice cursing his resignation to fate (“I’m burning out, still play the game”).

Things are different now. Having signed a deal with the Anti label (Home to Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman) he recorded Evenfall at Abbey Road with a five piece band. Songs which began on a laptop and were written during the same period as those on the previously released EPs Drift (2021) and Arrival (2023) were in the process transformed, and this space is key to his debut’s absorbing atmosphere.

Juxtaposing amongst other sounds post punk, dub, funk and shoegaze, it’s the work of an artist with an ear for texture, opener I Can’t See The Sun’s blistered jazz echoes prompting ghosts. Other peaks are via Chicago Town and Cherry, but it’s Gone West and the rubbery post club groove of Tunnel Vision that bring the most substantial payoffs. Sam Akpro’s rites of passage have ultimately brought him to a space loaded with promise.

You can read a full review here.