"Heavy Heavy" by Young Fathers

A dense, intense amalgamation of wide-ranging genre influences.

Hello! 😊👋

Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!

Today’s music pick is one of the year’s most intriguing alternative records, a dense amalgamation of wide-ranging influences and customs.

Genre: Alternative, Neo-Soul

Label: Ninja Tune

Release Date: February 3, 2023

Vibe: 😯

In my experience, an inability to instantly categorize an album is a sign it’s worth listening to, often more than once. It incorporates snippets of influence and tradition from so many genres and styles that it becomes its own unique organism—transcending the old to create something new and exciting. This is the case with Heavy Heavy, the fourth full-length release from Mercury-prize-winning Scottish group Young Fathers. By taking their cues from neo-soul, art-pop, alternative rap, electronica, and indigenous music (among many others), they’ve created an intriguing, poignant sonic mosaic that celebrates human triumphs over atrocity.

The latter quality serves as a noticeable undercurrent throughout, with tracks like “I Saw” and “Tell Somebody” touching on how paying no heed to the plight of others (particularly in the wake of Brexit, according to the group) can both initiate and prolong a downward emotional spiral. But some moments glow with hope, seeing the brightest of lights at the end of dark tunnels. It’s all rolled into one on “Shoot Me Down,” a breathtaking exercise in contrasting cynicism with a longing to let loose and connect through the power of music (”We're having me a party, throw my ashes to this ground/Keep 'em dancing all night long”). It’s one of the purest, most unabashedly human moments on an album full of them.

👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈

Got thoughts on this album? Did you love it? Sound off in the comments.