The British grime artist from Plaistow Justin Clarke’s third LP and first on a major label steps up to a franker, more nuanced style and includes a range of high-profile guests, including Stormzy, Emeli Sande, Dave, Hamzaa, Pa Salieu and Skepta. A mixed bag at first, It takes a little time, subjectively for the album to hit its stride, but does with Skepta on the spiky IC3, confessional ‘story so far’ number Autobiography wher he seeks the stage as a toddler and practises his “cadence”, heartbreaking relationship problems on Dead To Me, in which he summons up the image of a gun fight with Cupid, and Sonya, in which he, and a troubled squeeze are tortured by his feelings for a teenage ex, and duet with Stormzy on Skengman, trading phrases about violence with clever phrasing. With confessional self-conflict and struggle over honesty as a running theme, the album is littered with nicely phrased narratives in inserts, some of which meander narcissistically and a little too much, others giving sharp confessional insights. Some tracks, including the 10,000 Tears with guest Ed Sheeran, are perhaps best left to what they are for – label name stocking fillers, but with a range of interesting sounds, including actual horn and string players, and this is a cut above your average grim record. Out on Warners.
Feel free to also check out our favourite albums of 2020 here:
Fiona Apple to Lianne La Havas to Yves Tumor: favourite albums of 2020 – Part 1
Agnes Obel to Bob Dylan, Phoebe Bridgers to Sault: favourite albums of 2020 – Part 2
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