I've eschewed a 'best of 2023' countdown but, if I did, Young Fathers would be up there with Heavy Heavy.
I enthused about the album when it was released at the beginning of February and it's one that I've returned to frequently throughout the year, cemented by a blisteringly good standout performance at Glastonbury in the summer.
Nearing the end of the first leg of a US tour, the band's performance for KEXP in late September was posted on 1st December. I'm a big fan of KEXP sessions anyway, but this 4-track set is especially good, fizzing with energy and threatening to burst the constraints of the studio.
Any four selections from Heavy Heavy would be great. For KEXP, you get resequenced selections from side 1 with I Saw, Drum, Geronimo and and album opener Rice. It works brilliantly. Usually, KEXP sessions have songs sandwiching an interview with the host. Here, you get a 15-minute set up front, and 10 minutes with Cheryl Walters talking with the band afterwards. Great stuff.
The core trio of Alloysious Massaquoi, Afolabi Oluka-yode Bankole and Graham Hastings, with Callum Easter and Steven Morrison are a formidable musical force. Adding the mighty vocals of Amber Joy Greenidge-Sabral and Kimberley Mandindo to the mix and they are unstoppable.
As if the KEXP session wasn't evidence enough, ARTE Concert published an hour-long show in June, filmed in March at YoYo in Paris, a few weeks after the album release. Closer to the more typical KEXP format, songs are interspersed with an off-stage interview with Jehnny Beth. The 13-song covers about half of Heavy Heavy and leans into their back catalogue for the rest, mixing it up to the vocal delight of the audience.
0:32 Queen is Dead
3:26 Wow
7:31 Get Up
13:41 Rain Or Shine
18:13 Old Rock n Roll
22:19 Drum
27:58 I Heard
31:48 Rice
34:50 Ululation
38:40 Geronimo
42:17 I Saw
48:44 Shame
54:46 Toy
It's not too late to add Heavy Heavy to your list for Santa, if you haven't already got it...
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