Cocoa Sugar bursts with the weird warmth of an ice burn, a sizzling stew of Tricky-covers-the-Fall garage rap.
Cocoa Sugar slaps sugary boy band choruses against tongue-twister rap, via surreal imagery borrowed from the Bible and a sprinkling of the kind of idioms your nan might use. It’s a potent mix, and their best album yet.
With this record Young Fathers have managed a perfect synthesis between what they are saying and how they choose to present that sonically. Yes, this is a highly political and experimental record, but it is also a brilliant pop album.
New album, Cocoa Sugar, is, without doubt, the bands most accessible to date but don't think for a moment that they have compromised their sound in pursuit of mainstream success. For every hook or vocal melody, there is a contrasting, experimental noise, as if the band are at pains to scuff up the sound if things become too comfortable. It's this juxtaposition that makes the album such a thrilling listen.
Cocoa Sugar is an invigorating listen from beginning to end, and it's hard to imagine any other band making a musical work of art that's as visceral this year.
Although on initial listen, Cocoa Sugar appears a somewhat sparse and restrained affair, there is in fact little restraint to be found in the record’s emotional depth; and its ability to explore and convey a plethora of intangible human experiences.
With Cocoa Sugar, Young Fathers are still pushing the envelope and thinking outside the box, but more importantly they are doing all of this within pop's limitations. This is a fluid expression of both jarring and accessible concepts that hit you square in the jaw.
Cocoa Sugar is an audacious high-wire act which captures them at a potent peak.
As always, it’s a physical experience; visceral grunts, shrieks, exclamations, flailing to the heavens; naked emotion as well as walloping catharsis encompass Cocoa Sugar.
It all adds up to a fascinating, multifaceted work which strives to find its own unique space in a crowded musical world, forever mindful of its limitations, but soldiering on with good humour.
Despite holding the hookiest moments the trio has ever crafted, Cocoa Sugar is also their strangest album yet, pulling at their own sound like Play-Doh and alternating between giggling and sobbing with unsettling ease.
The perfect meeting point between 808s-era-Kanye production value and humble, anglo-centric vocals, they deliver every track with an urgency that forces you to listen. The result? ‘Cocoa Sugar’ is a highly intoxicating blend.
Cocoa Sugar finds Young Fathers at a fascinating juncture: opening up, moving forward, but still existing in a sonic hall-of-mirrors world of their own.
Young Fathers haven’t done what was expected of them on ‘Cocoa Sugar’ but in dodging expectations once again, they continue to triumph.
Cocoa Sugar mystifies before it gratifies, but it reflects a modern global chaos as much as it does a personal one.
Every song on Cocoa Sugar has more layers than most average rap and R&B releases put together.
The latest from the experimental rap trio is chaotic but sleek, a streamlined presentation of the singular style Young Fathers have crafted.
Cocoa Sugar is one of Young Fathers' milder releases.
Fantastic. Took time to get used to the sound but it really grew on me. It is an album that feels like it transports you to another world. Any album with that kind of power is fantastic in my eyes
Fuckin love this album cover lol. Guessing this is soul, I am really not familiar with the genre; but the fact it can be THIS experimental with its sounds and atmosphere is impressive af. Each song has some wacky shit to offer, I love the theme, flow and actual soundfonts used in the album, it weirdly fits the album cover, I think the blues of the colour palette and backdrop colour do the mood of the album justice. PRetty brilliant and catchy stuff, I really enjoyed this!
1 | See How 2:01 | 85 |
2 | Fee Fi 2:41 | 81 |
3 | In My View 3:15 | 92 |
4 | Turn 3:36 | 82 |
5 | Lord 3:37 | 84 |
6 | Tremolo 3:08 | 79 |
7 | Wow 4:00 | 83 |
8 | Border Girl 4:01 | 81 |
9 | Holy Ghost 2:32 | 82 |
10 | Wire 1:40 | 76 |
11 | Toy 3:13 | 89 |
12 | Picking You 3:04 | 86 |
#1 | / | PopMatters |
#1 | / | The Skinny |
#5 | / | Fopp |
#5 | / | The Line of Best Fit |
#7 | / | God Is In The TV |
#9 | / | Drowned in Sound |
#11 | / | Under the Radar |
#12 | / | Gigwise |
#13 | / | Uncut |
#16 | / | The Guardian |