Label: Ninja Tune
Released: 3rd February 2023
Feverish with reinvention, Young Fathers have carved a career for themselves defined by being distinctly individual. Beating to the sound of their own drum from the very beginning, it’s hard to think of any band that even comes close to sounding like them – and representing that unbreakable desire for originality and the new.
‘Heavy Heavy’, the trio’s fourth album, captures that with incredible results – an album of tantalising energy that shows just how vital they sit in British music, while sounding like their most direct and impactful era to date. Taking a journey through fizzing punk potency (‘Rice’ and the swaggering ‘I Saw’), M83-esque cinematic release (‘Tell Somebody’), whirlpools of sound and vigour (‘Holy Moly’ and ‘Drum’) and call-and-response collective calls (‘Sink Or Swim’) – it’s an album focused on taking you somewhere. Picking listeners by the collar and pulling them into new territories that may on paper sound so distant and disparate but together sound extraordinary.
While Young Fathers have pushed and stunned with every step up to now, where ‘Heavy Heavy’ flourishes is in its sharpness. An album that runs in so many directions yet pulls everything tight – that tension is released and erupts into some of the most euphoric pop you’ll hear all year. At its core, it’s that knack which makes Young Fathers so special. Outspoken. Defiant. Vulnerable. Raw. ‘Heavy Heavy’ is an album dense in its twists and turns, proudly showcasing that DNA which will have them looked back on as true authors of our time. ‘Heavy Heavy’ finds joyful defiance in the darkest of times, and the result is nothing short of euphoric.
