“Way Up,” a standout track on Sami’s “Elevate” EP — his first collection of new music in nearly five years — begins down a path that will be familiar to those who have heard the music he’s produced, DJed or released on 1432 R, the label he co-founded: Chitter-chatter percussion and percolating bass give way to hands-in-air rave synths, which sync up to an interlocking rhythm.
But the journey soon diverges, with the sound of something unfamiliar in most club music: wind-in-the-woods flute, as if Pan is beckoning the listener off the wall and onto the dance floor. And that’s not a sample or synthesizer; it’s Sami himself.
“If you had told me when I was a kid that I was going to be making dance music with [the flute], I would have laughed,” he says. “Everybody’s got a voice, and the flute is definitely a medium through which I express mine.”
The entirety of “Elevate” finds Sami (the musical alias of D.C.’s Sami Yenigun) in an expressive mood. He describes its four tracks as representing four sides of dance music, from whimsy and bliss through to menace and mourning.
“Dance music can convey a range of moods, and it’s not just always about sheer ecstasy or whatever,” he explains. “It always should be fun, but … you can express that fun in different ways.”
For Sami, a veteran of the D.C. dance music scene who has been releasing music and throwing parties for years, “Elevate” also represents the culmination of a two-year break from club life, during which he recorded much of the EP. With new tracks, mixes and gigs lined up, he seems poised to reemerge fully into a scene that was particularly affected by pandemic closures.
“I’ve got all of the energy and the gift of wisdom when it comes to the kinds of music that I want to seek out and explore,” he says. “I’m so curious still, and there’s so much more to learn all the time.”
His return comes during a fruitful period for D.C.’s post-pandemic nightlife scene, with new clubs, promoters and DJs working to tap into the city’s much-bandied-about collaborative spirit and provide people with a creative community to explore. He cites party starters Dance Club, Hast du Feuer and 140+ and DJ collectives Black Rave Culture and Rush Plus as the bleeding edge of D.C. nightlife. He’ll be joining a handful of those folks for a set at newish D.C. venue the Owl Room, but has a promoter’s spirit when asked if he’ll be playing the flute live.
“You'll have to show up to the gig to find out.”
July 14 at 9 p.m. at the Owl Room, 2007 14th St. NW. theowlroomdc.com. $11.33-$20.