Cocoa Sugar

AlbumMar 09 / 201812 songs, 36m 53s
Indietronica Neo-Soul
Popular Highly Rated

In November 2017, Young Fathers announced that they’d completed work on a new album. The trio – Alloysious Massaquoi, Graham ‘G’ Hastings and Kayus Bankole – marked the news by previewing a brand new song, ‘Lord’ and a subsequent accompanying video. Just like their previous standalone 2017 single ‘Only God Knows’ (written for the Trainspotting T2 film and described by director Danny Boyle as “the heartbeat of the film”), ‘Lord’ provided an enticing glimpse of what to expect from Young Fathers’ third full album; something typically unique and exhilarating, but leaner, more muscular and self-assured than ever before. Today, Young Fathers announce full details of that album. Titled Cocoa Sugar, the twelve track album will be released on 9th March 2018 via Ninja Tune and follows the group’s previous two albums; 2014’s Mercury Prize-winning DEAD and 2015’s White Men Are Black Men Too. Written and recorded throughout 2017 in the band’s basement studio and HQ, Cocoa Sugar sees Young Fathers operating with a newfound clarity and direction, and is without doubt their most confident and complete statement to date. To celebrate news of the new album, Young Fathers today reveal a brand new single ‘In My View’. Accompanied by a video directed by Jack Whiteley, ‘In My View’ is available now. Cocoa Sugar will be available on CD, LP, limited LP and via all digital services. It features a striking visual aesthetic, with cover photography from Julia Noni and creative direction from Tom Hingston.

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7.3 / 10

The latest from the experimental rap trio is chaotic but sleek, a streamlined presentation of the singular style Young Fathers have crafted.

B

Ministry’s AmeriKKKant is cathartically enjoyable but ultimately uninspiring; while Young Fathers’ Cocoa Sugar is another solid dispatch from their distinct, post-genre space; and Of Montreal turns in its spaciest, most sonically interesting set of songs yet with White Is Relic/Irrealis Mood. These, plus Erasure,…

6 / 10

9 / 10

Cocoa Sugar is the sound of the Scottish three-piece brilliantly streamlining their art to piercing and disarming effect.

On their third album ‘Cocoa Sugar’ cements Young Fathers' status as riled-up oddballs determined to reinvent the wheel.

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Young Fathers remain a dangerous and hungry proposition.

In dodging expectations once again, they continue to triumph.

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Cocoa Sugar is a potent mix of sugary boyband choruses, tongue-twister rap and surreal imagery making for the Leith trio's best album yet.

9 / 10

Four years on from their unexpected Mercury Prize win, Edinburgh trio Young Fathers still refuse to fit in. They may have dabbled with the m...

8.5 / 10

Young Fathers do not tend to mention politics explicitly on Cocoa Sugar but the weight of three years of political turmoil since their last album looms large over this new record.

8 / 10

Young Fathers have always marched to the beat of their own manifold drums, so it came as a bit of a surprise when the trio teased their new era with

(Ninja Tune)

7 / 10

With a couple of albums and a Mercury Prize under their belt, Young Fathers have decided to take their time over their next move.

9 / 10

Scottish based collective, Young Fathers, have always pushed at the expectations of what a band should be.

8.0 / 10

Beth Andralojc reviews Young Fathers' new full-length 'Cocoa Sugar'

Late last year, Young Fathers announced the arrival of their third album with the release of a track called Lord.

80 %

Young Fathers’ vulnerability is laid bare throughout.

Album Reviews: Young Fathers - Cocoa Sugar

8 / 10