The scots Young Fathers (Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and G. Hastings) have returned from a five-year hiatus, after “Cocoa Sugar”with the best work of their career, a fourth album with which they say they return to the original source, to Africa, to the continent of percussion and tribal rhythms from which two of the third parts of the group descend. “Heavy Heavy” It is a jubilant album in which their multiple influences are perfectly combined in what is so difficult to achieve, which is to sound like themselves, mixing multiple elements and genres, African songs, glam, hip hop or post rock rhythms to achieve something unique that it is expressed in that “Let’s go beyond the limit to another level” that they sing in “Holy Moly”.
Another aspect to highlight on this album is that they have achieved something compact and in which nothing is left over, ten songs packed into thirty-three minutes, without any of them exceeding four minutes or less than two, straight to the point ( to the jugular), both musically and lyrically. At one point they sing “Listen to the rhythm of the drums and get numb / Have fun”, it seems to be the clear ‘leitmotif’ of the album, the world is still hard and full of suffering, it’s time to rebel against it and try to enjoy while it can.
The percussions dominate the album, being its anchor point, “Rice” is warm and resplendent, the African influence soon establishes itself, and the uplifting chants begin, “these hands can heal”, although the songs do not always follow paths foreseeable. “I Saw” shows that the trio knows what rock & roll is, with a song that, musically, sounds like a glam rock band produced by the Kanye West from “Black Skinhead”. It’s a flare that sounds like an apocalyptic warning and perfectly encapsulates the energy that the record gives off.
“Drum” sounds transcendent and twists on itself with tremendous energy that leads us to that first stop that “Tell Somebody” supposes. Despite its apparent calm, the song reaches tremendous levels of epic, as if they had been listening on repeat to M83. A prayer that could be described as electronic gospel.
Shadows and darkness seem to prevail at the beginning of “Shoot Me Down”, but an organ and a falsetto melody gradually prevail, to show us the light again even in the most claustrophobic moments. The joyous vocals on “Ululation” are glee made song, as if Animal Collective did their own “Graceland.” “Sink Or Swim” is vibrant, a tribal chant to rebel, or not, to sink, swim, or do nothing. Although I think that they are clear that they do not intend to sink, or remain standing still. Something that is confirmed in the unstoppable “Holy Moly” while for the end they leave the beautiful “Be Your Lady” that breaks in the middle with brutal percussion, something that these Scotsmen master perfectly, although calm returns, the The finale perfectly combines that percussion with the spirit of the record: “Can I get ten pounds of love out of the bank, please!”.
It is difficult to describe an album as intense and original as “Heavy Heavy”here there are very varied influences but perfectly cohesive in his own music, TV On The Radio y Tricky, Animal Collective y Massive Attack, Kanye West y M83post-rock, afrofunk, hip hop o glam; Young Fathers, definitely. The first great album so far this year.
