ALBUM REVIEW: Loyle Carner – hugo

By Resonate | January 4, 2023

Words by Jacob Dowdle

The long-awaited third album by UK’s own Loyle Carner sees a departure from his usual smooth and relaxed flow, opting instead to hit us with a more dramatic sound. 

The urgency in his voice on tracks like Nobody Knows (Ladas Road) and Plastic reinforce the lyrics with vivid truth and pain which captures and whisk the listener from their reality into his. The themes throughout are likewise true to life, as LC discusses in detail his battles with identity, relationships, and his inability to control his emotions. 

Throughout the track Polyfilla, the listener is told stories of regret from his past and how they control his present. The track’s namesake (a product used to patch holes in walls) is a clever double entendre as, when combined with the lyrics, clearly draws references to Carner wanting to fill holes in his relationships, as well as to filling physical holes in the walls of his home created by himself. This culminates in a clever production technique where the vocals rapidly move left and right, becoming more chaotic and hard to follow, mirroring how thinking can feel when losing your temper. 

However, more poignant moments also come earlier in the tracklist, such as the lyric from Nobody Knows (Ladas Road), “you can’t hate the roots of the tree, and not hate the tree, so how can I hate my father, without hating me”, highlighting his struggles with confused feelings about his past. This hyper-focus on the not-so-glamorous emotions has always been Carner’s strong point, but in this album, he lays himself bare unlike anything else he’s made to date. 

RATING: 8