How Loyle Carner's "Not Waving, But Drowning" became the perfect lockdown soundtrack — a love letter to music, Wu-Tang, and banana bread.
Much like the boys from Blue 'we got this city on lockdown…lockdown' yet again. Were Big Dunc and the boys the fortune telling Nostradami of their age or just a group of lads that knew their way around a good tune? Who's to know. But what we do know is, for the next few months we will be crawling back into our hideaways, dusting off our Minidisks and Vinyl players or whatever the non-hipster folk use that don't start an article with an beautiful, yet terribly antiquated reference to one of the finest boy-bands of a generation, and be falling back into music to get us through it all.
Allow this extremely pretentious waffle for a second but for me music defines, it helps add meaning and understanding to otherwise broadly mundane life moments, as I look for answers in the lyrics and the sounds. Like the impossibly deep questioning of who really did let those dogs out back in 2000 with the Baha Men? Who who who? So what happens when a worldwide pandemic hits and the normal outlets of the glorious outside and beer soaked pub carpets go awry? The screams for something to decipher it all play louder. A lyric, a song, an album, anything, anything with the same poignancy and premonition as the often over-looked classic that is Blue's 'Fly By'.
Lockdown 3.0 will bring a freshly picked selection of music, as once again the opportunities to leave the house will be as rare as finding a Childish Gambino song I hate. (Ooow Blue, Baha Men and now a Childish reference, 'who is this guy?' I hear no one ask, but alas I will continue to waffle).
So what will it be, what sort of music will help decipher it all? If the first shut-in is anything to go by nostalgia will cast its spell. An album I had on repeat for pretty much all of 2019, sounded so different when the winds of the 2020 shit-storm started to blow, the different prospective that covid-19 threw up on us changed the music that rung the same eardrums 12 months before. The lyrics, the songs, the signature 'uh' verbal tick of Loyle Carner all transformed into something new as I tried to come to terms with living, working and writing silly little articles, much like this one, in a two-by-two metre box, with an albeit 'generous' window, that I now call, cos I am a basic bitch, my home office.
'Not Waving, But Drowning', the title alone seemed to fit the universal struggle of replacing beer gardens with zoom calls but the more I listened, the more it spoke. It tackles our place in time and the pleasure seasons take in chasing each other, so its transformation into a 'lockdown' record came with ease. From 'the clarity of autumn rain' to chasing his 'Ice Water' in the summer, a reference to Raekwon's track 'Ice Cream', that talks about 'French Vanilla Butter Pecan', same as Loyle, a song that is definitely about Ben and Jerry's and not Jen and Shelly's, as I am certain when Meth raps about rappers filling up guts, he is talking about attacking insides from the North not the South, right?.
'Not Waving, But Drowning' is an album always concerned with the past and the future, loss and gain, something the first lockdown had in spades. We may have lost our sanity but the banana bread was on point, so it was an even trade-off (again basic lockdown bitch right here). With songs like 'Still' focusing on the lack of change and finding truth in that. 'Still looking for the answers, still tryna find the right questions' even if that means 'stealing fruit from the garden' to open our minds to our own reality — just like old Adam and Eve did a couple years back when they listened to that mischievous little snake. Like Loyle, we were still wondering our 'cost' when C.R.E.A.M, ('Cash Rules Everything Around Me') is no longer the pet phrase of the hour as even the Wu-Tang Clan putting RZA and GZA on furlough became a distinct possibility. 'Loose Ends' had you clambering for 'love that's out of range' as any interaction with friends needed to be accompanied with the necessary 2 meters separation. 'Krispy', a story of two friends that drift apart became a much more relatable cautionary tale as communication was limited to emojis, memes, and old vine videos, 'Ahhh stop I could've dropped my croissant' the forever highlight, with lyrics like 'Drop rhythm on repeat and I would spit it 'til the beat stops – but the beat stopped' cementing this 49 minute roller coaster ride into the highest position of pandemic go-tos.
On one half it had me reminiscing like CL and Pete Rock. Remember beer in a pint glass?…my god!, but on the other it had me 'chasing that big round orange on horizon' as 'Dear Jean' and 'Ottolenghi' focus on the Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn aka the Future, (stage names are important) and challenging the past into something that doesn't resemble dust. 'Without the rain there's no stunning growth' reminding me that if it wasn't for this upheaval I may not of done those 7 or 8 push-ups I did back in May, and I wouldn't be the same super swelled-up man monster that I am today. Shups for life!!
The Album, it had all, lockdown soundtracked to perfection. I may be 'still saying I am lost, still wondering my cost' but now know 'roots can't manoeuvre out of nothing'. Lessons learnt in a lockdown.
So now we come to 2021, and the pandemic has not let up, thrusting us back into the same situation as almost a year ago, but I am excited, at least on some level. I for one can't wait to see what soundtracks the next episode. Will I be super edgy and go with something like Berwyn's 'Demotape/Vega', will J Cole drop his next project in time for it to take hold, or will nostalgia rear its head again as I dive into my back catalogue singing Jason Derulo's name just as much as he does? The options are endless!
What about you guys…. Oh Whatcha Say?... oh dear it's happening already … What is your soundtrack to lockdown 3.0?