On ‘
hopefully !’,
Loyle Carner has found more room to breathe. ‘
hugo’ found him tightly wound, agitated and with ample reason to be. On his fourth album, he’s more undone. There’s a peacefulness and a keen need to be present and embrace moments of pause that feels like new ground for the artist, and that is immediately evident from the sun-soaked opener ‘
feel at home’.
This newfound tranquillity does not detract from the meaningfulness of Loyle’s words; rest assured. It still hits equally hard, asking difficult questions and pondering difficult thoughts. There is a sharpness woven into the softer edges of the album, making it all the more striking. It’s less acerbic, but perhaps more striking for it.
‘
time to go’ feels like the album’s mission encompassed. “All I can do is take it slow”, Loyle muses, and that’s exactly what the album allows you the space to do. It’s a quest to find a stream of light and hold onto it, even when times are turbulent and ever-changing and throwing challenges at you. It acknowledges that, and stresses the importance of pausing.
There are shades of his past work, of course - ‘
horcrux’ and its shuffling percussive beats could easily slide into ‘
Not Waving, But Drowning’. Yet, tracks like ‘
strangers’ and ‘
in my mind’ see Loyle choosing to sing on his tracks for the first time, and the innately soothing vocals beg the question of why this hasn’t happened earlier. It lends a serenity to the album that feels invigorating.
