Can I take ten pounds worth of loving out of the bank, please?

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's top 50 albums of 2023

#2 : Heavy Heavy - Young Fathers


Heavy Heavy is packed with ideas that probably shouldn’t work in tandem, but somehow do, which pulls you headlong into a world where a distorted, glam stomp-driven excoriation of Brexit and the head-in-the-sand mentality behind it that winds up as an exuberant, irresistible choral singalong – “Brush your teeth! Wash your face! Run away!” – is far from the most improbable thing on offer. Pop hooks meld with warp-speed beats and soulful vocals; warm, euphoric melodies break through production that fizzes and seethes; wild experimentation is crammed into the confines of three-minute songs; industrial noise and scrambled hip-hop samples coexist with piano ballads. All this happens in barely half an hour – in that sense at least, Heavy Heavy is a model of economy; 30 minutes of music marked by the thrilling and increasingly rare sense that you’re in the presence of something that’s unique and completely modern, that couldn’t have been made before now. 


I always think I like Young Fathers, but when I catch their stuff I'm more "hmmm - that wasn't what I'm expecting" without anything sinking in as to what I'm listening to.  So let's see what I think of this...


Hmmm - well, it's certainly different.  I'm not sure exactly what I just heard - the main thing I remember thinking was "Lion King sings a strange combination of glam and disco".  It's not bad and it's certainly unusual - I'm not sure I'd go with The Guardian's "unique and completely modern", but I'd say it's worth a listen.  Particularly because it's only 33 minutes long - what's the worst that can happen to you?  Did I like it?  Not particularly on first listen and there won't be any repeat listens to change that situation, but it was definitely interesting.


Wikipedia tells me this is their fourth album and their first in five years.  The critics were very nice about it (AllMusic used the phrase "lust for life" which feels very appropriate) and it appeared on quite a few of their end-of-year lists, with The Skinny declaring it to being #1.  It did pretty well here, getting to #7 but I was surprised to see it managed to do a bit elsewhere - #73 in Belgium, #84 in Ireland and #98 in Germany.


"Customers also listened to" Billy Nomates, The Murder Capital, Yard Act and Sleaford Mods - not my thing as far as I'm aware of them.  Which is also true, to a lesser extent, for Young Fathers - but it remains to be seen how much I remember that next time I meet them.


#3 - I like this
#1 - Impressive rather than enjoyable

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