SWEET BABOO

The Wreckage (Amazing Tapes from Canton)

This latest album from Stephen Black, aka Sweet Baboo, is his first under that moniker since 2017. The Wreckage sits up there alongside the material of Black’s previous collaborators (Cate LeBon, Gruff Rhys et al) in its clean indie freshness. A psychedelic undercurrent flows through the album, not in the usual sonic meanderings you may expect but in the lightness of voice, unusual chord progressions and shifts in texture.

Black sounds like a modern Syd Barrett on songs like the beautifully bouncy Worry, and there are shades of 90s luminaries like The Divine Comedy elsewhere. But the difference is that Baboo is just more consistent, his style is harmonious without being uninteresting, and his writing is strong without being alienating. In short, The Wreckage really is an excellent album of songs that pay their dues but are thoroughly modern and refreshingly unique. You’d be hard-pushed to find someone who wouldn’t enjoy music this good.

words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES