Album Review: Labrinth, COSMIC OPERA ACT I

Emmy winner and multiple Grammy nominee Labrinth opens his fourth album by declaring, “They say that in order to heal, you got to sit with that internal chaos… For me, that internal dance is something like an opera”. And the LP tuns out to be just that – an operatic opus, of the experimental pop variety.

Over a haunting gospel choir, tribal drums and scything synths, ‘Debris’ finds the producer candidly asking, “What the fuck am I doing?” ‘Implosion’ pits soaring brass against mammoth staccato beats, in a magnificent orchestral duel. But it’s the wonderful melodic hook – “I feel like I’m ten feet tall” – that really makes the track pop.

‘S.W.M.F’ is worthy of the opening credits to the George Lucas epic it references, with Labrinth singing, “Watch me Luke Skywalk”, before gleefully declaring, “Star Wars motherfucker!” Elsewhere, the brief chant of ‘God Spoke’ is a heavenly calm, before the exquisite bombast of ‘Big Bad Wolf’.

The playful opening salvo of ‘I Keep My Promises’ is blown apart with screeching vocals and a pile-up of instrumentation, while ‘Orchestra’ brilliantly mixes opera and hip hop sensibilities. Rounding this hugely impressive effort, ‘Running A Red’ brings proceedings to a close with a delicious slice of psychedelic funk.

8/10