Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy
Young Fathers return with an engrossing new album featuring everything from orchestral pomp to 2-step beats, snarling claustrophobia to R'n'B slow-jams
Anyone familiar with Young Fathers will wonder what a 'back to basics' album could possibly mean for a band that skipped 'basics' altogether. Fortunately, the anything-goes eclecticism that defines the trio is still in good health and any sense of paring back is strictly relative. Heavy Heavy is rarely an easy listen, but it's never less than engrossing.
Shoot Me Down is full of wobbly samples and a 2-step beat while Ululation delivers exactly what it says on the tin, but paired with the sort of summery indie-pop guitar that could only make sense in Young Fathers' world. Tell Somebody features the sort of orchestral whomp that isn't normally the hallmark of this group, but why the hell not?
It's easy to see why last July's standalone single, Geronimo, was released so long ago – it's just the sort of hazy summer comedown that works best amid endless bright skies, hitting an almost spiritual note a bit like, uh, Spiritualized. Recent single I Saw is a totally different beast, however, revelling in the snarling claustrophobia that the band do so well. There are 'sunset gremlins' along with suave oohs and aahs, emphasising the grit and velvet approach that the triple vocalist setup allows for. Most of these songs gradually introduce you to the woodchipper, but this one practically starts mid-squall and doesn't let up from there.
A couple of later tracks, Sink or Swim and Holy Moly, feel like 'typical' Young Fathers songs, though that's still a loose definition. There are furious (sometimes lyrics, sometimes delivery) speak-sing vocals and a galloping beat that never feels more than a few seconds from explosion or collapse. Final song Be My Lady moves with jarring abruptness from quasi-industrial to slo-jam R'n'B in the blink of an eye, before throwing in the kitchen sink for a cacophonous final few moments.
Young Fathers could be a 'state of the nation treatise' act, but their lyrics are far too cryptic. Their arrangements are full of bright melodies that can turn on a dime into grimey lo-fi or calypso rhythms. A pervading sense of unease is usually present, emphasised by the faint sirens that reappear across the album, eventually peeking above the mix on the closer. But the chaos remains controlled. Exactly what Young Fathers can't turn their hands to remains to be seen.
Listen to: I Saw, Holy Moly, Rice