In Review: Sam Akpro at Moth Club

Photos by: Anna Dallas

It has been four months since Sam Akpro headlined a gig, but in that time he has been far from quiet. After releasing a string of singles from his upcoming album, ‘Evenfall’, to amass momentum, Sam finally dropped the complete LP on the 28th of March 2025. It is an album that has been received with delight by both fans and critics, with NME granting the artist a prestigious four-star review and The Rolling Stone UK praising his genre-defying sound in the run up to the release. All of this culminated in a gig at Hackney’s Moth Club celebrating the blossoming young artist. 

‘Evenfall’ is evidently a product of Sam’s careful reflection and refinement of his music-making process. It has resulted in a body of work where substance and style are perfectly balanced and even mutually reinforcing. Akpro transmits his city-induced melancholy and other experiences of south London living by dressing them up in his grungy, urban aesthetic.

Sam Akpro led his band through the crowd and onto Moth Club’s stage a fashionable 15 minutes late. After a brief welcome they grooved into the first track: ‘I Can’t See The Sun’. This song sets the tone for both the gig and the album, with the line ‘I cant see the sun, my limbs they weigh a tonne’, encapsulating the heavy and gloomy mood that is present throughout Sam’s music. Despite Sam Akpro’s minimal conversational communication with the audience, his performances are brilliantly immersive. His live shows transport you to the shadowy streets where he draws his inspiration, the music a soundtrack that wraps around you like the air itself and floats you through the city dreamscape. 

Sam and his band continued to play the rest of his album with fan favourites from previous EP’s scattered throughout the set. One of these was ‘Drift’ a song that triggered a distinct rise in energy in the venue as the crowd recognised that amplifying patter of introductory drums, the droning hum from the sound board before the familiar guitar riff bounced in, accompanied by a synchrony of bobbing heads. The gig continued in this vein, accumulating energy as Sam and the band eased into a rhythm, alternating between new and older music and maturely working in an instrumental track, ‘Baka’, into the middle of the set to slow the pace. Sam Akpro is a master of tempo, wandering in between stillness and bursts of energy with an effortless precision. 

Standout songs were ‘Tunnel Vision’, ‘Gone West’ and ‘Juno’, but the highlight of the set was ‘Cherry’. After some encouragement from the band, the crowd began to let itself go as a mosh pit formed. A rapid, rolling drumbeat stormed in as the enthusiastic lead guitarist, lost in his own world of joy, played licks in exchange with Sam’s sporadic lyrics. Pulsating basslines were provided throughout by a player whose bandaged forefinger had doubled in size. Nonetheless he plucked, slapped and tapped rhythm into the veins of each song. 

‘Arrival’ was meant to be the last song, but the crowd insisted that one more was played. Thus, the set was concluded with the ecstatic ‘New Blocks’, a sublime combination of jazz and punk that threatens you with sudden changes in tempo and crashing symbols. As the song neared the drop, the crowd burst open again, sending a few people sliding across the beer-soaked floor. Blue lights pierced the audience as bodies bounced off each other in a Sam-made elation that provided a worthy ending to a memorable gig.