Something More Than Hurt

Everything Is Recorded featuring Sampha “Close But Not Quite”

Richard Russell has explained that the origin of this song came from hearing Sampha’s record and hearing some of Curtis Mayfield in his voice, and I suppose, wanting to put both men on the same track as a sort of posthumous duet. The contrast is subtle – they have similar timbres and both sing with a great deal of vulnerability – but Sampha’s voice has a fragility and touch of insecurity that accentuates Mayfield’s serene confidence. The shift into the sample of Mayfield’s “The Makings of You” is a beautiful moment in the track, with the delicate uncertainty of Russell’s arrangement and Sampha’s vocal giving way to a kind of gentle strength and emotional focus. Mayfield is the one singing about not having the words to express some powerful feeling, but on this track, nearly 50 years after he recorded “The Makings of You,” someone else has found their words through him.

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