BERWYN - WHO AM I 

To make a list of the ways in which ‘WHO AM I’ triumphs may well fill an entire page, but it can perhaps be summarised as an impeccably delivered expression of BERWYN’s multitudes. First, for an artist who broke into mainstream consciousness via the often willingly arch Mercury Prize, it possesses the kind of huge pop moments that beg for A-list daytime radio play. The earwormy, sonically joyous repetition of the title throughout ‘I AM BLACK’ is entirely winning, while ‘WHO AM I’’s title track boasts a gigantic chorus that sounds as if it may have always existed. And still, both are emotionally raw: the former’s status as downright banger juxtaposed with its lyrics detailing racist experiences. The most intense moment comes undoubtedly with the gut-punch of a centrepiece, the impassioned, spoken-word ‘DEAR IMMIGRATION’, appearing as a letter to the concept itself: “You’re not even real / But you wanna make me feel like I’m the lie,” he says, among a detailed expression of his life experiences since arriving in Romford as a nine-year-old from Trinidad. 

In near-direct contrast, the poetry of following number ‘NEIGHBOURS’ is of the everyday: “I love you more than every street of Rizla I lick” could have come straight from the notebook of a certain Mike Skinner and is all the more effective for following something so profound. This isn’t the only masterstroke of the record’s sequencing either. ‘I’M DROWNING’ is by itself a smart piece of acoustic-driven guitar pop that makes clever use of well-worn chord patterns alongside contemporary vocal effects to produce something both classic and in keeping with the record as a whole, but that BERWYN’s tale of using alcohol as coping mechanism follows a series of songs about what causes the emotions in the first place only makes it hit all the harder. A record that’s as skilled in pop immediacy as it is emotional expression; a lyrical gaze that looks as deeply inside as out; an artist who, on this debut album, can seemingly do just about anything.