Album Review: “Awaken, My Love!” by Childish Gambino

There was no way to anticipate the trajectory of Childish Gambino’s discography.

Scratch that. There was no way to anticipate the trajectory of Donald Glover, full stop.

The one-time YouTube sketch star turned 30 Rock writer turned Community GIF-generator turned hashtag rapper could have rested on any of these laurels and found plenty of success throughout this decade.

Instead, he left Community (admittedly, a sinking ship) and devoted himself to music, while developing an enigmatic TV series of his own: Atlanta.

And that is why, in 2016, Donald Glover went from sitcom second banana and would-be rapper to the force behind the year’s most heralded new program and “Awaken, My Love!”, a psychedelic, funkified record so separate to its predecessors, Because the Internet and Camp, you can barely believe it has come from Troy Barnes himself.

(Now Lando Calrissian? Yeah, he seems like the kind of Parliament-booted, cape-wearing boss that might have conjured up this space odyssey.)

First single and opening track “Me and Your Mama” gives away Gambino’s reinvention immediately. Over six minutes—beginning with a lengthy, dreamy introduction—Glover howls for a girl’s affection while a monstrous voice bellows in the background. Fuzzed-out guitars battle against a live drum set and choir, before dissipating to the sound of slow strumming and some shimmying tambourine.

The summertime grind of “3005” and the EDM crowd-courting of “Heartbeat” has never sounded further away.

Next is “Have Some Love”, a classic George Clinton throwdown, also not dissimilar to Sly and the Family Stone’s “Family Affair” (to mash together references as Glover does influences).

“Boogieman”, “Zombies” and the Funkadelic-sampling “Riot” follow, capturing the spirit of Atlanta with violent metaphors (but playful production by Ludwig Göransson) to illustrate the black struggle in America. However, with the exception of the soulful breakdown at the end of “Boogieman”, the first half of “Awaken, My Love!” is, sonically, a tricky listen; for particular, P-Funk moods only.

Side B begins with “Redbone”, the smooth, D’Angelo-esque call to arms with the chorus cry, “Stay woke.” The ominous groove continues with “Terrified” and “Baby Boy”, only interrupted by the modulated calypso of “California” (not an unpleasant distraction, but a distraction nonetheless).

The back-end of “Awaken, My Love!” carries on the message of Side A, though not nearly as explicitly as similarly themed 2016 releases Lemonade, A Seat at the Table and Freetown Sound. #BlackLivesMatter may not be uttered on “Awaken, My Love!”, but lines like “keep standing tall,” and “they won’t take my pride,” are not accidental.

If you focus on the instrumentation and sound (which the severe creative left-turn demands), “Awaken, My Love!” reveals itself to be more about heritage and ownership. That is how it makes its political stand. The throwback to the 1970s—an era of Blaxploitation and Afrofuturism—and the album cover—an audacious interpolation of Maggot Brain—contribute to a powerful lineage, even if the vague lyricism seems to side-step controversy in favour of general, ‘love-in’ platitudes.

Stay woke.

4/5

“Awaken, My Love!” is now available.

Photo: Glassnote