Album Review Years & Years - Night Call

“My criteria was that it had to make me move and dance and feel good. The only time I was getting to move during lockdown was when I was making music,” explained Olly Alexander to DIY of ‘Night Call’ - his first Years & Years release as a solo endeavour. And though musically, the project feels no less vital and sparkling due to its diminished numbers, companionship is evidently something that’s been playing on Olly’s mind as well: yes, ‘Night Call’ is record that celebrates the joyous power of the club, but underneath almost every pulsing beat is a barely-concealed ode to getting your rocks off in some form too.

Sex is hardly a new topic for the singer-turned-celebrated It’s A Sin actor. But where, on 2018’s superlative ‘Palo Santo’, there was complexity and subversion written through his relationship with the subject, on ‘Night Call’ both the melodies and the lyrical missives are more direct and to the point. On the album’s title track he’s “vibin’ on your dial tone, one thing on my mind”; ‘Intimacy’’s stripped-back beats soundtrack yearning to tie a partner to a four-poster bed, while ‘Muscle’ is a lusty lip-lick over bassy synth pulses. A horny soundtrack of the the Great Global Hook-Up Drought of 2020/1, the steamy ‘Crave’ is both the record’s highlight and thematic signpost.