Heavy Heavy

Young Fathers

explicit

Released on 03/02/2023 by Ninja Tune
Main artists: Young Fathers
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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One of the most interesting, thought-provoking bands around right now, Young Fathers borrows a little bit from a lot of genres—hip-hop, mbaqanga, alt-pop, noise pop, punk, gospel, to name a few—for something that is truly avant. It's not worldbeat so much as out of this world. The Mercury Prize-winning Edinburgh trio has described their fourth album, Heavy Heavy, as being both about the "smooth granite of bass that supports the sound" and the "natural progression of boys to grown men and the inevitable toll of living, a joyous burden." That message is delivered fully formed on "Geronimo," which somehow manages to simultaneously invoke the mischievous power of early TV on the Radio and U2 circa Zooropa. "Breathe in like a lion/ Breathe out like a lamb. Got the feeling that I'm caught in a bind/ Being a son, brother, uncle, father figure/ I gotta survive and provide." Massive "I Saw" sneers the verses ("A bad seed/ A rotten apple/ Take out the rubbish/ Buried in between justice/ Holier than thou") before the calm but determined chorus slips in: "I saw what I saw/ I keep on walking the line." The band—which once got kicked off a music festival for supporting the anti-Palestinian-oppression BDS movement—has described the song as a metaphor for "a big bully with shite down their leg, still swaggering … the stench of [a] long-dead empire, trudging along … " The lyrics also offer a pragmatic panacea to jingoism: what sounds like children chanting "Brush your teeth/ Wash your face/ Run away." "Drum" is a breathless dismantling and reconstruction of hip-hop, an immersive swirl coming at you from all angles with alternating on-and off-time kick drum. "Tell Somebody" is like some ethereal choir hymn, complete with a god-light moment, that's either repetitious or meditative depending on your point of view. Captivating "Ululation" builds around the celebratory female howl of the title and blends Arabic cheer with New Orleans' carefree, high-humidity joy—two cultures that find the full-circle beauty in death. And as for that granite bass? It sounds like a sonar on the jubilant "Rice" and agitated "Sink or Swim," which adds a third option to an old adage: "You either sink or swim or do nothing." Closer "Be Your Lady" is like three different songs—piano soul, tribal metal thump and spaced-out funk— in a seamless relay that might make Frank Ocean jealous. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

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Heavy Heavy

Young Fathers

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Rice