Heavenly Recordings has published this spring the excellent album by the British of Nigerian origin Joshua Idehen, whom we knew as a “poet” thanks to Sons of Kemet. Helped by musician and friend Ludvig Parment (he says that “Joshua is a group like Sade”), he wanted to make an album that overcomes “the cycle of bad news in the world” but without pretending that all that is not there.
We are faced with a compendium of very fun and elegant dance music, reminiscent of the most epic Avalanches or the most focused Disclosure. The album is called ‘i know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try’ and it’s full of excellent singles. It will be presented tonight, May 14, at Razzmatazz 3 in Barcelona and tomorrow, May 15, at El Sol in Madrid. There are discounts for Fever customers.
The album opens with one of those tracks that already clarifies everything: ‘You Wanna Dance Or What?’. ‘Turn It Around’ and ‘This Is the Place’ are among the album’s bangers and then, beware, the song that has gone viral is a spoken word called ‘Mum Does the Washing’ in which we reflect on machismo, socialism, capitalism, feudalism or fascism.
Among the devastating phrases of this topic that was forged as a Twitter thread, attention: “mansplaining: your mother does the laundry and you tell her how to do the laundry, you have never done the laundry / same-sex marriages, your mother does the laundry (or washes the dirty rags) / Patriarchy: your mother does not exist.”
For minds closed to the spoken word, even if it is so subjugating, we select ‘It Always Was’ as Song of the Day. A euphoric recording also with political connotations (“I was born with wings and the answer is here”) that has a video clip with all the good “vibe.” Joshua dedicated the song to his friends, mother and daughter and encouraged them to keep going: “if the world screams, we will sing louder.”
The press release sent by PIAS Spain clarifies that ‘It Always Was’ is inspired by the times when Joshua was in a broken car with his friend Benji and they were not allowed to enter certain nightclubs because they were black in the West End of London. Benji got a job, started talking about 5-year plans and they both concluded that “whatever needs to be for me, will find me.”
