Heavy Heavy album review

Having talked the talk with one of those Young Fathers, what happened when we opened our ears to Heavy Heavy? Kevin Fullerton finds a surefire contender for album of the year

Lighter, brighter and more committed to the white-knuckle thrill of a danceable tune. This is the mission statement of HeavyHeavy, the latest album by Young Fathers, in what feels like their most complete work to date. A new release from the Edinburgh-based trio has always seemed like a sign of the times, injected with bleak undercurrents by the unrelenting assault of Tory rule and the murk of underground nightclubs.

Now, at a time when Brexit Britain trudges through the muck of its bad decisions, Heavy Heavy urges you to take a break from your doomscrolling and soar above those problems, with the bracing lift of tracks like ‘Geronimo’, ‘Tell Somebody’ and ‘Drum’ aiding your flight.

‘Hear the beat of the drums and go numb/have fun/go on,’ invites the chorus of ‘Drum’. This isn’t the intense call to action of previous work like ‘Get Up’, which turned dancefloors into spaces of conflict and revolution. Instead, it’s a reminder that the heaviest aspects of life, even in the hellspawn misery of Britain’s political landscape, can be forgotten for a while in the warm embrace of a well-crafted pop song.

This generosity of spirit is present in every bar of Heavy Heavy, in what often feels like a culmination of the core Young Fathers sound. Fidgety rhythms, paradoxically elusive yet specific lyrics, exhilarating bricolage of genre: every trick in their arsenal is pushed to its limit and refined to near perfection. The future of our country may be gloomy, a fact that proves inescapable on swaggering tracks such as ‘I Saw’, but they’re not the focus. Standing proudly at the centre of this infectious, irresistible album are snapshots of elation, the comfort of friends, lovers and family buffering the world’s turbulence. So go on, shrug off life’s enervating force and have a dance.

 Heavy Heavy is released by Ninja Tune on Friday 3 February.