Life expectancy.
Loyle Carner He knows perfectly well how mercurial, challenging and rewarding life can be. With a childhood complicated by neurological conditions and an artistic path full of surprises and obstacles that led him to change from acting to music, Carner He has made a career in flux thanks to his elegant and melancholic hip hop with touches of jazz and lyrics full of contradictions, dilemmas, insecurities and small victories.
His previous work, hugodocumented the arrival of her first child and all the insecurities and joys that come with it, along with a more direct and blunt approach to her choice of beats and instrumentation. On this occasion, hopefully!their fourth studio album, follows the natural evolution of this lyrical and musical narrative to give way to verses and rhythms with greater maturity. He moves away from the bombastic to meditate on the arrival of a new child, but his fear for the world and the type of person he wants to leave behind remains.
Just listen to the starting theme, “feel at home”to hear him go out of his way in security and warmth toward his growing family, while “in my mind” talks about how his ego is still his biggest threat; as if he were running to shelter from everything in the place he calls home to still settle pending accounts with himself. “all i need” continue this introspection to fight with demons and find inner peace, while “horcrux” It is his cry of rage against everything that stops him—the influence of his parents, the temptations of the outside world—from finding some kind of catharsis.
The second half of the album is much more optimistic. Collaborations with artists of the stature of Navy Blue, Nick Hakim and Benjamin Zephaniah They help you convey that feeling of hope, showing that you are not alone and that, like many of us, life is a cycle of constant change and risk. The pianos, samples and harmonies flow in such a way that an abrupt change in style is not felt, but rather gives rise to a flow of thought that goes from the conflictive to the relaxed without betraying the identity of Carner.
Even when a conceptual evolution is noted between albums, the true constant is that Loyle Carner he becomes more accepting—but not resigned—with each release. If before it was the search for his identity, now it is the fears that come with having a family and not being the best father he could be. In the end that is the human condition, and hopefully! It gives us a more bearable and zen perspective of who we are, what we fight with and where we are going on this winding journey called life.
