LOYLE CARNER
Hugo (EMI)
Loyle Carner’s third full-length release, Hugo, and first since the pandemic, reveals his deeper, more overtly introspective side, and finds the 28-year-old Londoner choosing to shake things up a bit. Although they’re bolder and bolshier than before, the bars that Carner slings on Hugo feel more confessional than cinematic. He takes multiple tracks to chew over social issues like racism, black-on-black violence, and inequality, and threads personal stories throughout: it’s serious, but never veers on preachy.
Carner continues to employ his usual combination of big gospel samples, mellow pianos and hip-hop drums for his beats. Tracks like Georgetown and Plastic are bookended with powerful socially conscious samples. On the former, an excerpt of Guyanese poet John Agard’s poem Half-caste echoes Carner’s musings on race. Hugo sees Carner embrace more mature themes with improved bars and delivery, and the end result packs both sensitivity and punch.
words ALEX PAYNE