Album reviews: Dave | The Charlatans | Admiral Fallow

The Charlatans: We Are Love (BMG) ★★★

Admiral Fallow: First of the Birds (Chemikal Underground) ★★★

The Boy Who Played the Harp is an unexpected title for a hip-hop album but Dave is no ordinary rapper, having acquired almost messianic status on the UK hip-hop scene in the space of two album releases. His third is, in fact, named in reference to his kingly Biblical namesake and is as heavy on lyrical content as it is musically downbeat.

There are no commercial bangers here. Instead, there is a sense that Dave has moved on from those sorts of concerns. In reality, he is wrestling with his psyche and the wider world, wrangling with therapy on Selfish, confessing his spiritual guilt on 175 Months and standing alongside guest rapper Nicole Blakk on Fairchild as she rages against the day-to-day threat of sexual violence, agreeing that “danger doesn’t look like no killer in a mask”.

READ MORE: Nathan Evans & Saint Phnx, Glasgow review: 'brothers in song'

Dave’s Top Boy co-star Kano turns in a blistering cameo on Chapter 16, contrasting with the harmonious harp coda. James Blake adds a soothing soulful vocal to History but reverts to his usual self-involved mumbling on My 27th Birthday. Stick with the track, however, and what emerges is an epic rumination in which Dave’s busy mind barrels back to his parents’ relationship and then forwards to engage with the central quandary of the album: “I want to be a good man but I want to be myself too”.

In contrast, The Charlatans bring only positive vibes. Here is a band to turn to in a crisis, manifesting in reassuring, freewheeling mode on the title track of We Are Love. The indie veterans slow it down but keep it mellow on You Can’t Push the River, and add a suggestion of country guitar twang alongside their signature swirling organ on Many A Day A Heartache.

At times, they are a little too laidback for their own good but they stir up proceedings on the propulsive Out On Our Own and suffuse Glad You Grabbed Me with skittish saxophone and the whine of New Romantic synth.

There is a similar quiet assurance to Admiral Fallow’s new album forged through the contemplative downtime of the pandemic. Among the more arresting tracks, Avalanche captures the heady upsurge and heart-swelling intimacy of new fatherhood while Daydreaming (Why Any of This?) confidently marshals a low-slung rhythm, widescreen arrangement and perfectly pitched backing vocals.

READ MORE: RSNO & Paul Philbert, Edinburgh review: 'a missed opportunity'

CLASSICAL

Mahler: Symphony No 2 “Resurrection” (Hallé) ★★★★

That this new Hallé recording of Mahler's Second Symphony, the “Resurrection”, takes time to fully assert itself is no bad thing. Mammoth in concept and vision, it’s a piece you want to journey exhaustively through, questioning and reacting as Mahler himself no doubt did, experiencing afresh the piece’s psychological complexity and cathartic resolution. So yes, there’s a certain pertinence to the chariness of Hallé chief conductor Kahchun Wong’s shaping of the opening movement, the sentimental relief he wallows in with the lilting Ländler-like Andante, before the grittier “surge of life” expressed in the third movement, countered by the timeless calm of Urlicht sung enchantingly by Dame Sarah Connolly. Then, of course, there’s the mammoth Finale, like a whole new start but drenched in newly discovered affirmation, Wagnerian at times, that only makes sense against what preceded it. The Hallé Choruses are radiant, as is South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha. Ken Walton

JAZZ

Fergus McCreadie: The Shieling (Edition Records) ★★★★★

The herds who inhabited shielings while tending cattle on summer pastures would be unlikely to take an upright piano with them, but Fergus McCreadie did, recording in a North Uist cottage this album confirming his trio’s standing as one of the most distinctive outfits in UK jazz. It is the grainy drone of harmonium, however, that opens the album before the piano enters, lyrically, for the opening Wayfinder, McCreadie’s trusty associates, double-bassist Dave Bowden and drummer Stephen Henderson, ushering the tune energetically on its way. Produced by Laura Jurd, this is arguably McCreadie’s most consistently Scottish-sounding album in its catchy folk inflections, but also with a potent “live” energy seemingly instilled by sparse surroundings. Listen to how the lightsome melody of Sparrowsong takes on drive, Climb Through Pinewood dances lightly before flexing collective muscle while the rocking motion of Fairfield shifts from song-like theme into zesty improvisation. Jim Gilchrist

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