Sam Tompkins

When you hear Sam Tompkins' heartfelt and cathartic second album, Are We Gonna Sing?, you'll feel as though you're in the room with him. This is very much by design. "A lot of it was recorded live, which is why my vocals sound the way they do – they're not too polished or covered in reverb," says the Brighton-based singer-songwriter. "I'm never afraid of including the odd imperfection because I think that's where the feeling lies."

Being around musicians he trusted on a personal and professional level allowed Sam to dig deep and write his most intensely personal set of songs yet. In November 2023, just two weeks before he played one of his biggest headline shows to date at London's Eventim Apollo, Sam lost his father. Are We Gonna Sing? explores his emotional journey through grief, healing and finding hope again. This was a particularly testing process for Sam because his father was a wellspring of encouragement as he threw himself into music: first by posting bedroom covers on YouTube, then by busking on the streets of Brighton and building a loyal following on social media. "I knew music and singing was my calling, so I forced myself to start going busking," Sam recalls. "I was terrified to sing in front of people to begin with, but after a few months, I could have got up and sung in front of absolutely anyone."

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