New album reviews: Central Cee – Mogwai – FKA twigs

Central Cee – Can’t Rush Greatness

After more than a decade in the game and a staggering eight top 10 singles, Central Cee has finally delivered his debut full-length album, ‘Can’t Rush Greatness’. The title feels fitting, considering the wait and the enormous expectations that come with being one of the most prominent and internationally successful figures in UK rap. Hits like ‘Sprinter’ (with Dave), the audaciously viral ‘Doja’, and collaborations with Drake have propelled the 26-year-old rapper from Ladbroke Grove to a level of fame very few British rappers achieve.

The album opens with a global flex: “Tryna pretend they don’t know who Cee is, like anytime I get on the mic, it don’t cover a hundred regions, Sweden, Norwegian, New Zealand, Australian, Arab, Armenian, even Asia and Indonesian” he raps. It’s quintessential Central Cee – self-assured (if not brazenly braggadocious), internationally aware, and effortlessly charismatic. He glides over the beat with ease.

These themes of global success and cultural versatility ripple through the album, bolstered by overseas influences and features from 21 Savage, Lil Durk and Lil Baby. Yet, even as he flaunts his international clout, he never loses sight of his British roots, with mentions of Nando’s, Sport Direct, lines like “These American girls keep laughin’ any time I say, ‘Bottle of water’“, along with collaborations from Dave and Grime legend Skepta.

Throughout the album’s nearly 50-minute runtime, Cench makes no effort to hide his confidence, flaunting his wealth, clout and good lucks, all while continually nodding back to his humble past. “Remember the meals were microwaved. Now my private chef is askin’ how do I like my steak” he quips on “5 Star”. But for all his brags, Cench manages to strike a balance with moments of vulnerability, self awareness and emotional honesty. On the track ‘Now We’re Strangers’, he peels back the bravado to explore the pain of a failed relationship and the emotional toll of fame, rapping: “Smilin’ for the fans when I’m in the public eye. But I’m feelin’ sad, and I’m really numb inside.” His honesty makes for a compelling listen. Similarly, the brilliant closer, ‘Don’t Know Anymore’, offers a glimpse of a more introspective artist, reflecting on his journey from hardship to success.

Musically, ‘Can’t Rush Greatness’ often treads familiar ground. The hard-hitting drums, 808s, and similar flows at times bleed into one another. However, the Latin-influenced ‘Gata’ featuring Young Miko or the breezy, Neyo-sampling ‘Truth in The Lies’ offer some much-needed contrast.

While ‘Can’t Rush Greatness’ doesn’t perhaps reach the thematic depths or lyrical precision of rap peers like Little Simz or Ghetts, it really doesn’t need to. Cench’s strength lies in his accessibility. It’s a masterclass in owning your lane, understanding the cultural climate, and speaking directly to the people who made you a star. In that sense, his debut album is triumph: a record that cements his status as an artist who knows exactly where he’s at, and where he’s going. Theo Farrant

Mogwai – The Bad Fire

Writing a review for a Mogwai album is a bit like being back at school and having to deliver an essay about a book you’ve enjoyed: it takes a bit of the magic out of it. Not that it isn’t a pleasant exercise, but music from the Scottish post-rockers is easier to experience rather than appraise with words.

Still, here goes. Coming off the back of their first ever chart-topper, 2021’s brilliant ‘As The Love Continues’, ‘The Bad Fire’ is the band’s first non-score in four years, after soundtracks for the Apple+ series Black Bird and Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn. For their eleventh studio album, which marks their 30 years together, they’ve chosen to focus on finding the improbable hope that can decry from moments of despair.

The album’s title should clue you up to the intent, as it’s the old Scottish slang term for ‘hell’. As tempting as it often is to tease out a narrative thread and to overintellectualize the music through the prism of a throughline and behind-the-scenes ongoings, the tracks on ‘The Bad Fire’ do feel like they create a symphony to perseverance. You see, in between ‘As The Love Continues’ and the release of this new record, multi-instrumentalist Barry Burns’ young daughter received a bone marrow transplant and chemo treatment. As simplistic as it may be to state, the synth-heavy and John Carpenter-echoing opening track ‘God Gets You Back’ hits different when you know the background story.

In turn, the album leaves you with the feeling that this LP is about finding the moments of hope amidst great turmoil. The tracks build slowly out of gloom, creeping towards uplifting and at times euphoric crescendos. Whether it’s the climax of ‘Hi Chaos’, the absorbing progression of ‘What Kind Of Mix Is This?’ or the build up in the rockier ‘If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some Of The Others’, these ascendent gems are entrancing and welcome an overarching mood.

Incidentally, that last track title is one ee cummings would’ve been proud of.

Granted, all of this is not new for Mogwai. They have proven time and time again that they are unparalleled when it comes to composing and performing incredibly cinematic upsurges. And picking vivid titles for their songs. Standouts ‘Fanzine Made Of Flesh’ and ‘Pale Vegan Hip Pain’ prove this once more. However, the ominous moments on this album are seamlessly countered by gorgeous moments of lightness – to the extent the boundaries blur. Maybe that’s the point – no joy without sorrow, no respite without the sourness of struggle.

By the time you get to the stunning closer ‘Fact Boy’, via the atmospheric ’18 Volcanoes’ (which sounds like MBV and The Jesus And Mary Chain had a baby) and the delightful ‘Lion Rumpus’, it’s clear that ‘The Bad Fire’s artwork beautifully mirrors its content. Sometimes you have to face up to the madness of an exploding crater in order to reach the light on the other side.

But again, for all these words, it’s best to experience a Mogwai album. Especially one this stunning. David Mouriquand

FKA twigs – Eusexua

FKA twig’s third album ‘Eusexua’ brings together the cultural movement that Charli xcx’s ‘Brat’ ushered in last year with the textural complexities of an Aphex Twin record. Part hyperpop, part industrial EDM, ‘Eusexua’ signals a significant shift for FKA twigs, real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett. 

‘Magdalene’ was one of the most impressive releases of 2019. After her emotionally wrought debut ‘LP1’, Barnett joked in interviews that she didn’t want to release another melancholic album. It wasn’t to be as Barnett, never willing to shy away from her inner world, created a complexly textured cinematic album filled with emotionally bare and religiously aphoristic lyrics for the follow-up. 

Since then, she’s released the 2022 mixtape ‘Caprisongs’. Designated a mixtape instead of an album, it didn’t carry the pressure of an album release for Barnett and allowed her to experiment with a more outright pop aesthetic. 

For ‘Eusexua’, Barnett has now married the propulsive catchy beats of ‘Caprisongs’ with her intense sonic lyricism. It’s all based around her self-coined theory of “eusexua”, a “kind of meditative, like, amazing physical experience” when “everything moves out the way, everything in your mind is completely blank and your mind is elevated.” 

Kicking off with the title track, the album bursts out the gate with an insistent EDM beat that will transform but never truly let up for the entire runtime. As in her own description, ‘Esexua’ takes you into the depths of a euphoric club night that won’t let go of you until it has wrung out every last bead of sweat. 

Over the first half, Barnett covers more outright positive ground than she’s often dealt with before. Filled with affirmations and an encouragingly non-puritan view on sexuality, Barnett’s whispery soprano has new levels of strength as she boldly states: “When a girl feels good, it makes the world go ‘round”. 

FKA twigs of course stands alone, but to bring it back to the Charli xcx comparison, if ‘Brat’ was a cocaine-fuelled dance party, ‘Eusexua’ is a darker, more emotional ride on ecstasy. The 90s-influenced instrumentation pushes the point home. 

As with any physically-draining but euphoric night, the album shifts gears around ‘Sticky’ when things slow down and Barnett starts explicating her deeper insecurities. Amid a piano reference to Aphex Twin’s ‘Avril 14th’, she discusses anxieties as: “Little snakes inside a bottle / Writhing in my frustration”. 

There are also Japanese influences throughout, from vocal trills using Asian scales to little instrumentation touches and even North West – yes, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s daughter – rapping a verse in Japanese. 

As everything wraps up, Barnett continues to explore emotional vulnerability, comparing opening up to a striptease and putting herself in the position of a submissive dog to a partner before ending at a point of comedown daylight admissions on ‘Wanderlust’. 

Throughout all this vulnerability, Barnett is iron clad about her desires, agency, and power. A therapy session you can dance to. ‘Eusexua’ will be one of the best albums of the year and it’s only January. Jonny Walfisz

Central Cee’s ‘Can’t Rush Greatness’, Mogwai’s ‘The Bad Fire’ and FKA twigs’ ‘Eusexua’ are all out on 24 January.