Review: Loyle Carner :: Hugo

“I fear the color of my skin”: success, influence, attention, that’s all well and good, but as a black Brit, can you really feel free in a society shaped by racism, injustice and hatred? Loyle Carner is anything but sure: HUGO, his third album after the acclaimed YESTERDAY’S GONE and NOT WAVING, BUT DROWNING, descends deep into the archive of his own feelings, memories and experiences, to where the pain lies, the insecurity, the wounds of growing up remote, with ADHD and dyslexia in south south London.

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In songs like “Hate” he explores the origins of the hatred that he encountered in his life, connecting the personal with the social. The catharsis of this Stream of Consciousness spills over to the listener almost physically, overwhelming and at the same time liberating like a wave that washes over us all.

Musically, Carner, whose stage name is a pun on his real name Benjamin Gerard Coyle-Larner, combines the lyrics with productions from artists like Kelela, samples from poems and speeches like Guyanese poet John Agard or British activist Athian Akec and many jazz elements into a driving, history-conscious but never nostalgic work of art. In order to liberate one’s own community, society, one must first liberate oneself. Loyle Carner is on the right track there.

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