This is known: Young Fathers are three young men from Edinburgh and Liberia and Nigeria, all at the same time. Their journey has taken them through various incarnations and styles but they are still only in their mid 20s. And… and this is important: they’ve chosen to kill the past—their own past, even—to make their own future.
The what-what, the feeling: Following on from the acclaimed EPs ‘Tape One’ and ‘Tape Two’, their debut album ‘Dead’ comes as an intimate epic, thirty six minutes of…. what? What? You can call it hip hop or rap, but Alloysious, G and Kayus sing more than they chat. There's the suburbs and the cities of Grey Britain in there, but also Africa. There’s an obsession with the surface texture of sound, the psychedelicist’s love of noise. Equally, the deep, warm, maternal reassurance of bass. But the band also craft hook after hook, instant kid-melodies, piling them up on great reefs of backing vocals. Above all, what they insist on is that their music has to mean something, emotionally. If this is a wake, it’s a celebratory one, full of heart.
The PR facts: Over the last year, Young Fathers have carved up stages all over Europe and the US. In addition to directing their own videos they have made a series of short films for Channel 4. They’ve hosted a late night slot on BBC 1Xtra and curated one-off nights in Scotland and London. Their album is released by renowned West Coast indie Anticon in their first ever collaboration with the UK’s own Big Dada.
These are the quotes: Kayus: “The kid that I once was is Dead.” Alloysius: “It means everything and nothing.” G: “The funeral procession, the last hoorah… It’s called Dead because I can say it out loud and it means nothing.”
This is the conclusion: another beginning, starting with the end.