Secret Meeting score: 72

by Phil Scarisbrick

Loyle Carner’s first album – Yesterday’s Gone – was one of 2017’s best debut records. The laid back aesthetics that conveyed Carner’s thoughts on his life and relationships with those around him, combined with a fragility and frankness, deservedly won him many plaudits. The inevitable changes that this success makes on somebody’s life can often have significant impact on their art too. When that art is so planted in an environment that birthed it, that effect can be profound. Returning with his sophomore LP – Not Waving, But Drowning – Carner does his best to overcome this issue, and largely succeeds.

Touching on how this disconnect becomes an issue, Carner queries, “Everything around me changed/I’m supposed to stay the same?” on Loose Ends. The single featuring Jorja Smith is a sign of the stark self-awareness that made Yesterday’s Gone so engaging, only now with his new lifestyle in focus. This is a rare moment on the new album though, with the majority continuing to cover the same ground as its predecessor. There is no bile or unpleasantness- just a calm reflection on all the good and bad that life has thrown at him.

Some of the spoken word segues can make the record feel a bit bloated, and it doesn’t feel as powerful in its impact as Yesterday’s Gone, but it is nevertheless a very solid second album for Carner. The chilled out feel acts as welcome antidote to the in-your-face intensity of Grime music, which has spawned the majority of the UK’s most popular hip-hop stars of recent times. The journey on which Carner is taking us on is more than interesting enough for us to eagerly await volume three.

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