ALBUM REVIEW slowthai – UGLY

Method Records

Released: 03.03.23

“I’ve been lacking motivation / I need an intervention“, slowthai (aka Tyron Frampton) pointedly vents on Yum, the opener to his third LP – an odd divulgence, especially given both the Northampton MC’s prolific output, and near-constant tour runs. It’s made even odder by the fact that nothing on UGLY (U Gotta Love Yourself, acronymised), Frampton’s second album in just over two years, indicates that the clown prince of grime is in danger of burning out any time soon. 

Both Selfish and the criminally short Fuck It Puppet reveal Frampton to have lost neither his innate inclination toward incisive reflexivity, nor deft penchant for aggro bangers – elsewhere, Falling’s lighter-waving anthemicism and 25% Club’s tempered croons deliver resonant jolts of emotionality. Intervention, shmintervention…