Young Fathers sixth album, “Heavy Heavy,” expertly combines neo-soul and art pop with West African music, making an album that is equal parts over the top fun and slow angelic crescendos.
The third song, “Drum,” is one of those songs that makes your face hurt from smiling. It walks a very thin line between genuine fun and the feeling you get from “Happy” by Pharell, but it manages to be simple fun without crossing over into annoying territory. It starts with a very simple pulsating low horn but as the song progresses more elements are layered over top until it becomes unrecognizable from its beginning. By the end, the beat has added clapping, stomping, syncopated drum beats and angelic vocals ringing out in the back while all three members of Young Fathers belt the lyrics in unison.
“Tell Somebody” is the next track and it’s one of the slow-crescendoing songs on this album. Utilizing a falsetto, Young Fathers sings about a person who is struggling in life while an organ and subdued drums accompany them. Once the chorus hits and they start pleading for the person to “Tell somebody, please,” the drums break free and are paired with a shimmering sound that makes it feel like the sun has broken free from the clouds after a storm.
The very next song, “Geronimo,” is detailed by the band themselves as a song “about contrast, because life is contrast – pushing through, giving up, all at the same time.” This absolutely seeps into the lyrical content as they sing about their relationships throughout life over a beat that has the same vibe of “Tell Somebody” while feeling more uplifting than the somber organ and drums of that song.
A later track, “Holy Moly,” captures a similar vibe of “Drum” but feels like it has more of a message. Most of the lyrical content centers around how “You better take your chance” and the instrumental features a nice groove of non-stop drums and echoes from the background vocals.
“Heavy Heavy” is an incredible album because of how it blends genres with ease and can flip the entire mood from song to song. Some of these songs are so dense in composition that they can overwhelm you with emotion in the best way possible.
