The release of a concept album about a wild night out is either painfully ironic or exactly what the world needs right now.
Friday Forever’s 12 productions are named after times in the evening and following morning, taking the listener on a trip from 09.46pm/Every Friday Thereafter to 11.59am/Circles.
In between, a hyperactive Flohio (MC Funmi Ohiosumah) yells for the music to keep going during the jerky reggae of 02.56am/I Don’t Want This Feeling To Stop, and Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ghostface Killah endures a ladyfriend throwing up Domino’s pizza all over his TV over the menacing thump of 03.15am/Caviar.
It’s the second album from Richard Russell, 49, belatedly enjoying a solo career having first made his name with novelty rave hit The Bouncer in 1992. In between he was running XL Recordings, the west London label that signed the likes of The Prodigy, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal and Adele.
His first album, Mercury-nominated in 2018, was dabbed with softer textures. This one is darker and stranger, recalling the nocturnal ramblings of Tricky or a meaner mirror image of Gorillaz.
Jon Hopkins had a similar “one night” plot on his 2013 album Immunity, and the shift from lively beats to a more restful second half occurs here too. It’s a lovely finale to the most interesting journey any of us can take right now.
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