Loyle Carner
hugo
AMF Records/Universal
Buy via Official Store | Listen Below
Loyle Carner’s third album hugo represents a growing confidence and artistry that cements his place as one of the leading lights of British music. Most often described as having a “languid” delivery, this new effort finds him discovering a greater fire in his belly than previous records demonstrated. His voice, though still relatively softly spoken, finds an extra layer of grit that supplements the raging fire of disquiet in his lyrics. Adding further to that is the heavier musical accompaniment—there’s noticeably less jazzy lightness and a bit more straight-up (slightly) heavier hip hop. It’s a concoction that works exceedingly well.
It is also worth noting the community that contributes to the album’s success, as it shows a UK music scene that is thriving and constantly blurring the boundaries between genres. Chief among the contributors is Kwes, who handles much of the production and co-writing across the album. From Nubya Garcia’s Source (2020), through Solange’s A Seat At The Table (2016) and back to close collaborator Carner, his touch is assured and in tune with the artist at hand—truly an example of Black British excellence.
Elsewhere Jordan Rakei provides co-writes, Rocco Paladino brings a bassline or two and Alfa Mist lends his melodious piano lines all conjuring up the background for Carner to drop memorable lines throughout. Those lines take in (amongst other things) his newly forming relationship with his previously absent father, his identity as a mixed-race young man growing up in South London, and a life of loss in the urban sprawl of the capital.
The first two tracks do a fine job of ushering in the changes in Carner’s approach this time round. The sabre-rattle of hi-hats on “Hate” are a sharp contrast to the laid-back jazzy vibes that have sparked past albums, whilst “Nobody Knows” uses a sample of the Pastor TL Barrett & The Youth for Christ Choir of the same name. The latter is a hulking brute of a song that finds Carner grappling with the relationship with his father (“You can’t hate the roots of a tree / And not hate the tree / So how can I hate my father / Without hating me?”).
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The tragedy of knife crime, the scourge of young men up and down the austerity-ridden streets of the UK, is tackled with aplomb by Carner on “Blood On My Nikes.” It’s a punch to the guts when he says, “Trust / But like his mother I cried / When they took the boy’s life cause he’s from the wrong side / Shit, I know I should have thought twice / Washing off the blood from my Nikes.”
But the recurring theme that haunts Carner throughout is the newly burgeoning relationship with his father after a long period of time without him in his life. By the end of the album, he has reached some kind of understanding about his father’s absence and is beginning to make peace with it as demonstrated on album closer “HGU” (“I forgive you / Cause I know that its within you / And I’m better when I’m with you / Tryna reconnect as we begin to / Understand the reasons that you’re sinful / Cause Earth’s evil / Cause hurt people hurt people / Especially the ones who weren’t equal / The burnt treacle / Wonder what would be expected in the sequel…”).
This is the most satisfying album by Carner due to a palpable anger that bubbles below the surface and breaks free through his usually laidback style to make itself felt more deeply—he represents the complexity of life for countless others ravaged by a society fueled by hate and governed by people who don’t care about anything except their bottom line. There is truth here in abundance and it is a testament to the ability of people to be able to make progress in a world designed to fail them at almost every turn.
Notable Tracks: “Blood On My Nikes” | “Georgetown” | “HGU” | Nobody Knows”
BUY hugo via Loyle Carner’s Official Store
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