Albums of the week: Sampha’s dazzling return and Glen Hansard shows off his songcraft

Lahai — it’s his middle name and that of his paternal grandfather — is a wonderfully inventive album that fuses a kaleidoscopic array of sounds and styles. Soul, R&B, avant-grade pop, jazz, electronica — Sampha borrows from them all.

As with the first album, inspired by the pain of his mother’s death, this album appears fraught with anxieties. Lyrics hint at troubles, especially around his creative processes — “I found myself washed up on the shore” — while also centring on hopes and fears caused by the birth of his child.

The music does much to heighten the sense of anxiety. Although quite beautiful, and gorgeously produced, the arrangements are unsettling. Typical is Suspended — a track that showcases the warmth of his soulful vocals, but also revels in its jittery construction.

A highlight, Dancing Circles, seems to have been inspired by the minimal repetitions of composers like Steve Reich. In lesser hands it would be grating, but it’s so expertly produced and delivered that it dazzles.

Glen Hansard’s new album All That Was East Is West of Me Now places considerable emphasis on mortality and the passage of time. Introspective without being naval-gazing, the Dubliner has always excelled at writing songs that capture the human condition — and so it is here on this fifth solo album.

As before, there’s a significant craft to the writing. The Frames frontman knows when to pare the instrumentation back or when to indulge in flights of fancy. Dave Odlum, who was in the Frames in their early days, delivers a sensitive production job and other Frames members, including multi-instrumentalist Joe Doyle, ensure the playing is free and easy.

The strings-flecked Short Life, could have come from the Once soundtrack which Hansard made with Markéta Irglová.

Sure as the Rain is a gorgeously realised song that wouldn’t have been out of place on a Leonard Cohen album. Hansard’s vocals are hushed and laconic and redolent of Leonard Cohen. Halfway through, Hansard sings in French — and he pulls it off with aplomb.