TYRON / slowthai / February 12, 2021
- Joshua Yoo
- Mar 9, 2021
- 1 min read
Updated: Mar 26, 2021
Having endured an abundance of controversy and drama since the release of his last album, Tyron Frampton (slowthai) emerges as an artist attempting to manage his wounds. Although using two thoroughly contrasting perspectives, TYRON wholly captures slowthai’s frame of mind in an honest and thoughtful manner, providing strength for the demons he battles from track to track.
The first disc sees slowthai at his usual grimy flows, aggressive beats, and infectious chaotic energy, channeling frustrations, and a sense of aggravation, into his songs. The music captures well the sentiment and the energy of their underlying themes, whether on the biting, Skepta-featured “CANCELLED” that confronts cancel culture antagonistically, or the woozy “MAZZA” that portrays his personal experience of ADHD in the sonic equivalent of a blur.
The second disc of the album explores a more unguarded and introspective side of slowthai’s artistry hardly yet seen, and digging into the heavier themes and more pensive production, slowthai truly shines in his performances. The opener “i tried” sets the thematic tone for the second disc, as over the warped vocal samples and brash, grand instrumental, he writes bars of self-assurance to combat against the “black hole” of his current situation explored in subsequent tracks. From the taxing condition of fame (“terms”), to grappling with the interpersonal struggles of his attention disorder (“adhd”), slowthai bears his mind and heart on these tracks with touching sincerity and tactful delivery.
In its two-sided composition and unfeigned thematic foci, ‘TYRON’ feels as appropriate and well-executed an album as ever for slowthai to create at this moment in time.
Highlight(s): i tried, terms, push, CANCELLED, feel away, adhd, PLAY WITH FIRE, MAZZA
Lowlight(s): DEAD
SCORE: 8/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0g31CBix68
Comments