Right enough five years is a long, long time in anything these days, let alone music, but Edinburgh trio Young Fathers at least have different but equally good excuses for the delay since 2018’s Cocoa Sugar, with Kayus Bankole spending time in Africa and Graham ‘G’ Hastings spending time with some nappies after the birth of a first child.
Some of the same questions that were around in the days of keto diets and Deadpool 2 about their music persist however; namely, just what sort of stuff is it? In their own words it’s ‘hip-hop without boundaries,’ but in practical terms when you add in the extra ingredients to their special sauce – soul, rock, pop, afrobeat – Heavy Heavy is as much of a conundrum for folks who like their music easy to classify as anything before it.
Well, never mind they probably aren’t reading this anyway. Heavy Heavy is a frenetic burst of energy and ideas is what it really is, from the ecstatic sounding opener Rice, though Geronimo’s sweet coming of age story to the frenetic anti-Brexit creature feature I Saw. Never in one place long enough to be pinned down, the finest moment is Ululation, a joyous celebration of the musical smorgasbord that they always seem to stay true to, extended absence or not.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 