“The last thing I wanted to do was to make a pastiche disco album that replicated things that I heard because it wouldn’t feel genuine or exciting to me. It was about taking the parts of those records that I loved and seeing if I could put them in a new context,” he explains, of his surprisingly studied approach. This meant taking little elements of that sound, “a string sample, the way a bass line moves, even just chord selection”, and splicing them into his own modern style.

Collaboration is integral to Sam’s process. In his short career so far he’s already worked with an impressive list of names - Disclosure, AlunaGeorge, and Clairo to name a few (he calls the latter “one of the best songwriters alive”). On ‘times’, he upped the ante by securing a musician synonymous with the disco sound he wanted to recreate.

“Nile Rodgers, yeah. I hardly even have to say it, you know. He’s the godfather of so much of this music I’m talking about.” On Sam’s slinky jam ‘One More’, the real-life guitar hero’s riffing is unmistakable. So how exactly does one get Nile Rodgers to feature on their debut album?

When manager Grant suggested sending it to Rodgers, Sam was reluctant - “I was like, what? Nah. Even though I’d met him!” - but they gave it a shot and got a yes straight back. “I went down to Abbey Road Studios and played him the record. He plugged his guitar in, hit record, and just started ripping over the top of it for probably 30 minutes. I got to just sit there and watch in awe.”

Nile isn’t the only big-name feature on ‘times’. ‘Impact’, the album’s booming, sweaty climax, gets its soaring chorus from pop superstar Robyn, the result of a successful drunk text. “It was more like a drunk email,” he corrects, casually rattling off the story of how a bunked-off session with US rapper Channel Tres came to give the record one of its crowning moments, when they polished off a bottle of tequila and left the song unfinished to go out partying. Realising they still needed a chorus, Tres, who had been on tour with Robyn, suggested she might be a good fit. “If I could get anyone in the world to be on this record, it would be Robyn. I’m such a huge fan of hers and thank god, she was into it,” Sam grins.

‘Chemicals’ is another of the record’s huge moments, which Sam performed the vocal for himself. Normally more comfortable in the control room than the vocal booth, it was a challenge, but one he embraced. “If you’d asked me a couple of years ago to sing on a record, I would have told you to do one. It was really scary to me. But it’s become my favourite thing to do because I get the most fulfilment from doing things that feel out of my comfort zone then owning them.” The reception to the track, he says, which has become one of his most streamed to date, has been “very affirming”, and signals that there may be more of his dulcet tones on future releases. “I’m in the studio at the moment singing more and more. I’ll always be a collaborator because I love sharing a moment with someone where you realise you’ve created something great, but also I’m enjoying pushing myself to be at the front of that music too.”

Looking to the future, you can bet that ‘times’ will provide the soundtrack to the sorts of blissful moments it was inspired by, when social distancing is a thing of the past. “In every fantasy in my head of post-pandemic partying I have this image of playing ‘Impact’ at those LA parties and just watching sweat rise up above the crowd,” Sam smiles, blatantly itching to get back out to those spaces which he loves so much. “I’ve been lucky enough to go to some amazing parties over the years as a punter and as a DJ. I just want to take this album around the world and throw some really great parties. I want to get some great rooms, get a load of really great people together and have a really fucking great time!” Now that’s a plan.