It's taken 3 albums, but we are finally round to doing a Loyle Carner review. Why it has taken this long, I cannot tell you. Despite his huge popularity and influential style, he is not someone I have overly gravitated towards despite liking most of what I have heard. Why this time then? I was really enjoying the single Hate and thought why-not, let's see what a full body of work from LC sounds like.
5 Minute Read
My, potentially unfair, assumption of Loyle's music before was that it was quite dull and boring, quite 'one-note'. So to start the album off with Hate was a huge start to the album, and as I mentioned, it being the single did what it was meant to do and entice me to cop the album (stream on Spotify) as soon as it came out. I liked the re-verbed vocals, the rappity-rap-rap chorus and the drums washing over you. The song is tight and a nice palette cleanser, and for me anyway, signalled Loyle trying something a little different from his usual sound.
Nobody Knows (Ladas Road) is almost a good song. Again, a tight hook, but the backing gospel choir is way too over the top for me and way too overbearing, but again, although my knowledge of Loyle's first 2 albums is slightly limited, I haven't heard him on a gospel-type track before, so that was cool. Georgetown featuring poet John Agard was great and another song that took risks and felt more experimental for Loyle and rounded off a hat-trick of 3 songs at the top of the record where Loyle was trying something new. At this point the album had no mandate for which direction it was going to go, and for that, I liked it. Georgetown contained the legendary poem Half Caste from John Agard which is read at the start and end of the song. Being mixed race this was always going to hit home with Loyle and although he does really well with incorporating the poem into his hook, his verses on the song do not really delve into the subject matter that much and are more generic. The poem once again highlights the demeaning, patronising and deplorable nature of the slur 'half-caste', that is still used more in society than it ever should be.
Speed of Plight comes next and this feels way more in-line with the Loyle Carner wheel-house. It is more what I expected of the album. The instrumental has a nice piano melody with some nice verses that have a good tempo to them and I enjoyed Loyle's wordplay when he says "yo I want it all, until there's nothing that remains, if I didn't make the currency atleast I made a change".
Towards the back-end of the tracklist, A Lasting Place, the longest track on the album, feebly arrives almost sounding shy and unsure. The track is extremely beautiful but incredibly dour. The delicate piano melody and gorgeous backing vocals warm to your ears, meanwhile Loyle's vocals across his chorus and verses are equally melancholic. Loyle's lyrics sound existential as he comes to the realisation that he is now aging - "I thought this was the kind of thing that goes gradually, my hairline, the good guys I was glad to be, the grim reapers catching me". He's at an age where his youth is behind him. He thinks of his father, seeing himself in his father, almost his exact reflection - "she see my father in me, that's why she argue with me". After verse 1 we have a poem in the middle that asks questions of what type of man Loyle is, clearly still dwelling on his dad and perhaps how he compares. Verse 2 comes with lyrics as an ode to his mother, "yeah the mother's love, I know it isn't what it is, I wish it was, the love is great, yeah, to raise the man that you hate". So yeah, some sad lyrics with Loyle pointing out the irony of the situation as Loyle becomes more like his father despite being raised by his mother whom hated his father - this is just what I'm getting from the lyrics, I don't know any of this as fact. I think there's some unresolved feelings in Loyle about the loss of his father as well as him coming to terms with aging and potentially being similar to his dad. To round off this onslaught emotional trauma Loyle closes with "staring back at the reflections of a grown man, I don't want to be an old man".- It's a really sad song, but Loyle is only 28 years old and is hugely successful, I hope he realises that. I know I'm not his number 1 fan or anything but even from the outside looking in, he has been an absolute revelation over the last few years, his style is largely influential and his reach is far and wide amongst the population.
But yeah, to round this up, this is a cool album and in parts Loyle was pushing new buttons and going in directions he hasn't before, and on others it did feel like 'more-of-the-same'. The album at times was glamourous and full of skill and really pretty, but there was also times where it felt really British and authentic and somet you could eat your scrambled eggs to, and this is really good and probably what I was looking for. I think to improve, maybe take even more risks with the music, try push the narratives a bit more and what you're attempting to get off your chest, maybe a couple more songs, a couple more features for a bit of spice, but apart from that, this is a solid piece of work and an album to listen to, vibe to and take something from.
Art work opinions
It's okay, sort of follows on from the Hate music video and fits in with the skits on the album but the art work itself is nothing special.
Where would I listen to this
Some of the tracks could play in the gym but most are a bit too down-beat for me. Would play well in the background whilst chilling with mates, maybe showing them some of the nicer beats like on Plastic. I probably would say you'd get the most out of this whilst listening through headphones on public transport where you can either take the lyrics in or just have somet nice playing for your drive.
7/10
Star Track - A Lasting Place
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