Albums of the week: Hozier, Tom Walker and Little Simz

Hozier​ - Wasteland, Baby!

(Island)

***

Andrew Hozier-Byrne experienced a meteoric rise to fame in 2013. A college dropout and struggling musician performing at open-mic nights, Hozier’s life changed when he released the arresting Take Me To Church — a song supporting gay marriage in his native Ireland.

Written in the attic of his parents’ house, the song went viral, selling more than two million copies and garnering 250 million YouTube views. He was signed after a bidding war and went on to release an acclaimed debut; an Ivor Novello award ensued.

The pressure of following such a debut can’t be easy, but if Hozier is nervous, it certainly doesn’t show on his confident second album. He opens with the rousing gospel-rock Nina Cried Power, featuring Mavis Staples and Booker T Jones, which is a homage to Nina Simone and the protest song. The rest of the album isn’t as overtly political, with Hozier preferring instead to explore how love helps us to navigate the social and political noise of now.

Mostly, this is artfully done, such as on the brooding No Plan, a slow-burner whose more upbeat melody masks its altogether more dystopian outlook. “There is no kingdom to come,” Hozier sings gloomily.

The album is strongest where songs are serious and delivered with a clear sense of purpose, as on As It Was and the lush title track. Things go a little awry when Hozier plays safe and channels his cheerier side, with the result forgettable and hollow, as on To Noise Making (Sing).

by Elizabeth Aubrey

Tom Walker - What a Time to Be Alive

(Relentless)

****

What a time to release a debut album. Tom Walker fortuitously scheduled his first LP to come out a week after the Brits,

where he ended up winning the Breakthrough Artist award. While he’s best known for last year’s global smash Leave a Light On, Walker is clearly no one-hit wonder. He’s got several more big-hearted tunes, including Just You & I, set to go Top 10 today. The ballads might suggest another sensitive soul man, though the influence of hip-hop production is apparent on My Way. Walker’s rugged voice will no doubt draw curious listeners in to his assured debut. Ultimately it’s the quality of the songwriting that means he can probably look forward to many more trophies.

by Andre Paine

Sundara Karma - Ulfilas’ Alphabet

(RCA)

****

The second album is traditionally the point at which British indie bands either sink without trace or prove themselves worthy of long-term fan investment. This Reading quartet, led by flamboyant dresser Oscar Pollock, are far from household names but are big enough to play Brixton Academy next month. Their second album has a lot going on, from the pretentious title (Ulfilas translated the Bible into its Gothic form in the 4th century) to an expansive sound ranging between the relaxed disco funk of Illusions and the grandiose piano rock of Greenhands. Pollock has developed a portentous croon that helps his band to make a strong case for filling the space left by the departed Wild Beasts. This Alphabet gets an A for ambition.

by David Smyth

Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis - El Hajar

(Nur Records)

***

Dudu Tassa is one of Israel’s leading rock stars, but here he explores his Iraqi Jewish heritage. Tassa is a grandson of the Al-Kuwaiti brothers, who composed a lot of the most popular Iraqi songs in Baghdad between 1930 and 1950, before they emigrated to Israel. Although many of these pieces are still popular, most Iraqis don’t know they were written by Jewish composers. Dudu Tassa has made a selection of the songs and given them a contemporary twist. There are powerful female vocals from Nasreen Qadri, and softer ones from Rehela on the two best tracks. Tassa’s own songs are sometimes too rocky, although the title track has a memorable sense of longing. The closing Khadri El Chai features the excellent Yair Dalal on lute.

by Simon Broughton

Little Simz​ - GREY Area

(Age 101)

*****

Little Simz, aka Simbi Ajikawo, 25, has been the great hope of British hip hop for the best part of a decade. She’s toured with Lauryn Hill, guested with Gorillaz and once Kendrick Lamar called her “the illest doing it right now”. It hasn’t translated into stardom yet. But if her third album doesn’t hoik her out of this grey area, there’s no justice. She’s never been short of feminist front: “I’m Jay-Z on a bad day; Shakespeare on my worst days,” she deadpans on Offence. And her flow is never in doubt: the triplets of Venom are Lamarian in their controlled aggression. But producer Inflo has helped craft a sound that’s her own: taut funk breakbeats, gnarly industrial bass, jazzy flutes and horns. It allows room for introspection and playfulness too. Selfish has a sultry chorus from neo-soul singer Cleo Sol; 101 FM is a paean to grime’s pirate days; while Flowers, featuring Michael Kiwanuka, hints at the dark place it has all come from. Glorious.

by Richard Godwin

Branford Marsalis Quartet - The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul

OKeh

*****

Taking its title from a poem by Pablo Neruda, the first Branford Marsalis Quartet release in seven years is as lyrical and nuanced as we might expect from a longtime unit big on grace, daring and creative generosity. Among five new originals by band members, Life Filtering From the Water Flowers by the leader and saxophonist stands out for a solo that’s all light and shade, while bassist Eric Revis’s Dance of the Evil Toys surges with an energy involving startling syncopations. Even more impossibly tight knit after their stint collaborating with guest singer Kurt Elling, the band fizz through Andrew Hill’s 1970s gem Snake Hips Waltz and add potency to Keith Jarrett’s The Windup. Masters at work.

by Jane Cornwell