Album Review: Loyle Carner - Not Waving, But Drowning

Benjamin Gerard Coyle-Larner rewrote the playbook when he released his Mercury Prize-nominated debut, Yesterday’s Gone, two years ago. We were introduced to an MC, of sorts, whose lyrics would have been just as at home in a poetry slam as they were effortlessly laid atop his soulful beats.

Telling tales of making pancakes for an imaginary younger sister (Florence) and crate digging for old CDs (No CD), it was his introspective, poetic nature that initially endeared Loyle Carner to listeners. It is also something that remains present throughout follow-up, Not Waving, But Drowning - a title originally penned by poet Stevie Smith and used again in Coyle-Larner's own grandfather’s work.

Again, family comes first here, and the album opens and closes with a dialogue between Coyle-Larner and his mum Jean (how many MCs would dedicate repeated album time to their mum?). A poet in her own right, she ruminates on watching her son grow from “first kick to first kiss”. If family is at the fore, Coyle-Larner knows that the kitchen is the heart of the home, two tracks taking their titles from famous chefs. These are universal themes of love, pain and that namesake loyle-ty.

Above all, you get a real sense that this body of work is another set of polaroids from Coyle-Larner’s life - from sound bites of watching England winning their first-ever World Cup penalty shootout (despite it never coming home) to standout track Krispy, where Coyle-Larner bares his soul to friend and collaborator Rebel Kleff, before the powerful Looking Back brings racial identity into the picture.

If Yesterday’s Gone was Coyle-Larner coming of age, Not Waving, But Drowning shows that this is (and should be) an ongoing process. Intimate stories of a life in motion, Mother really does know best; just as she describes her son on closing track Dear Ben, the LP is “unique, defiant, uncompromising”.