By Fred Spanner
Loyle Carner:: Hopefully ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hopefully! finds Loyle Carner baring his soul further. He’s ditched the polite poetry class and swaggered into the confessional booth, crooning over live‑band grooves that feel like a jam after closing time. It’s raw, it’s riff‑soaked, and, as always, it’s honest: the sound of a new dad swapping nappies for notebook, splashing his fears and feels across the tracks.
This is the sound of a young man growing up. The title track includes his son, and also a clip of the late, great Benjamin Zephaniah. Carner has always worn his heart on his sleeve, but this album presents an older and wiser version of himself.
Sentimental? A bit. But Carner steers it with enough grit to keep it nicely balanced, stamping his name on a record that’s sheer poetry. Well worth all five stars.