An exciting new addition to Wu-Lu’s discography
Wu-Lu (Miles Romans-Hopcraft) is an artist from South London who produces and shifts styles on his albums by utilizing multiple genres such as rock, jazz, soul and lo-fi. He released the album LOGGERHEAD on July 8th, 2022. The album’s first track, “Take Stage”, starts with some beautiful vocals in the background with a catchy drum beat over it. Wu-Lu’s voice fits well over the beat and although he doesn’t rap much on this track, it serves as a good taste of what is to come in the rest of the album.
“Night Pill” has a funky bassline with a drum beat over it. Wu-Lu’s vocals and the additional background vocals that come later on in the song perfectly match the vibe of the beat and make for a very enjoyable listening experience. The beat switch at the end of the song is also a great addition and changes the song’s mood a bit. “Facts” has a beat that is different from the ones before but the song still fits nicely into the album. Wu-Lu’s voice could use some more emotion as it is fairly monotone throughout the track, but other than that, it is pretty well fleshed out and is a fine addition to the LP.
The next track, “Scrambled Tricks,” is different from any of the previous tracks with the beat and the vibe it creates. It’s a more aggressive song which makes the raps from Wu-Lu a bit underwhelming, as much like the last track, he still has a monotone voice. “South” starts with a great instrumental and beat drop. Its beat is one of the best so far in the album and Wu-Lu delivers an on-par performance as his voice isn’t monotone like before. Lex-Amor also delivers on this track with an amazing feature. Much like “Scrambled Tricks” this track is aggressive but a lot more so than the last one. It also achieves that aggressiveness more successfully than its predecessor.
“Calo Paste” is a more relaxed track than the last two both in its beat and vocals from Wu-Lu and Léa Sen . Despite the switch in style, this track still fits in and is one of the best on the album. The song “Slightly” takes a while for the beat to drop but it serves as a nice interlude and doesn’t detract from the song at all. Like the last track, this one is also a chill track. Wu-Lu’s vocals on this track are some of his best on the album as they aren’t monotone and fit nicely with the instrumental.
“Blame” is a track different from any other on the album. At first, the altered vocals and fierce beat are jarring after the last two tracks but as the song plays, the listener gets a bit more used to the change in the style of the track and the track delivers. Wu-Lu’s voice is great on the beat and the song successfully creates the mood it was trying to achieve. The song “Ten” has a harder bass than any of the previous songs and the beat is one of the hardest ones on the album. Wu-Lu also rides the beat amazingly. In parts of the song, his monotone voice underwhelms the listener a bit but it’s not as bad as before and the track is still a great shortcut in the album.
The song “Road Trip” is also very aggressive and although Wu-Lu’s vocals don’t stand out too much, it is still a great track. Towards the end of the track, his vocals get more haunting until the beat drops again and his vocals become aggressive, adding more depth to the song. “Times” starts with just an instrumental but later on Wu-Lu joins the beat and it’s a great collaboration between the two. This song is the longest on the album but the instrumental and the flow switches by Wu-Lu don’t make the track overstay its welcome. “Broken homes” is also similar to “Times” as it is also one of the longer songs on the album but doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s a great ending to the album and wraps it up cohesively.
Overall, this album is an excellent addition to Wu-Lu’s discography, and although it has its low points, it’s still a pretty consistent project from the talented artist.