Loyle Carner Album Review: Yesterday’s Gone
British MC Benjamin Coyle-Larner, more widely known by his spoonerism stage name Loyle Carner, has slowly climbed the ranks after supporting MF Doom, Joey Bada$$, and Nas and collaborating with Kate Tempest. But after his debut album Yesterday’s Gone, it’s clear he deserves a headlining spot of his own. The album is a deeply personal look at his life, from dealing with ADHD to the absence of his biological father. At times melancholy and very serious, Carner still finds room for clever wordplay, his flow unabashedly retro while the songs’ hooks and production are modern. Backed by funk and smooth jazz instrumentation while still including contemporary hip hop tropes like humorous interludes and soulful samples, Yesterday’s Gone is an assured debut and one of the best hip hop albums of the year so far.
The album opens with the stunning “The Isle of Arran”. Backed by a sample of gospel standard “The Lord Will Make a Way” and a funk strut, Carner introduces us to what’s been on his mind: that his dad was never around. For the rest of the album, he shares anecdotes on how he’s had to deal with his problems without that male influence. “Ain’t Nothing Changed” shows him describing troubles of upward mobility, while “Seamstress” details his drinking problem. He also discusses his relationship with troubled friends. On “Stars & Shards”, he raps that his friend was “cutting more lines than disabled kids up in Thorpe Park” and later on “No C.D.” to “keep your spine straighter than a blind homophobic.”
But overall, Yesterday’s Gone is an effective statement of honesty and identity. Over a rock riff on “No C.D.”, Carner spits, “We got some old Jay Zs, couple ODBs / Place 'em up in perfect order 'cause my OCD won't let me,” coupling the grand tradition of paying tribute to past legends while giving us a window into his own head. The sprawling closer “Sun of Jean” sees Carner saying, “I wasn’t running from the beast, I was running from myself.” It’s a stream-of-consciousness epic that covers everything from parental influence to ADHD to opening for Nas.
Most charming on Yesterday’s Gone are the aww shucks family moments that are not overly sentimental. Well, sometimes. “Mrs C”’s cheesy handheld drum beat, saxophone, and piano soundtracks an otherwise sweet “Hey Mama”-indebted tribute. “No-one makes a better bagel, some have come close / But the way you make the bacon is the bun toast / There's something special, couldn't sum it up in one quote / So these first four lines devoted to that one dose,” raps Carner. (His own mother actually delivers a verse on “Sun of Jean” in spoken word form.) “Swear” is the best interlude; it’s a talk with his mom about swearing in front of one another.
Coupled with sincerity is Carner’s incredible delivery and way with words. “Mean It In The Morning” is Earl Sweatshirt levels of laid back but Chance the Rapper in terms of tone. “But your choice / It was only your voice that could sooth me and save / Til I'm showing your boys how to glow / Others grow / Blowing your noise / So I stop and I thank you for showing those joys,” Carner raps. The most impressive song on Yesterday’s Gone is “Florence”. Over drum machine and piano and featuring a fantastic Kwes hook, Carner raps, “Freckle faced fidgeter, me but miniature.” A song about his imaginary sister, “Florence” opens with these six words that quickly show both his penchant for alliteration and rhyme and pride in his mixed heritage. Carner is more succinct and appropriately descriptive than layered with his words, making Yesterday’s Gone more of a riveting auto-biography than a collection of poems. There may be not much room for abstraction or interpretation, but there’s a whole lot of room for symbiotic appreciation, respect, and enjoyment.
