I Know You’re Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try [CD], Joshua Idehen, CD

Spoken word artist Joshua Idehen and his creative partner, musician Ludvig Parment, provide a phenomenal sonic poetic space on the urgent but transcendent new collection, I Know You’re Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try. After the viral success of "Mum Does The Washing," the pair received radio support from KCRW, Jamz Supernova and Huw Stephens (BBC), which lead to to sold-out shows, packed festival performances including Glastonbury and Green Man, an appearance on Later… With Jools Holland, and a support slot on Baxter Dury’s upcoming European tour. Across the album are uplifting choirs, cozy samples, and exuberant, sometimes house-tinged beats which create a bed for ruminative musings on morality and human connection. These reflections come from Idehen and Parment, along with a host of friends and collaborators, including writers Leone Ross and Charlotte Manning, vocalist Amanda Bergman, saxophonist Pete Fraser, and flutist Shabaka Hutchings (Sons Of Kemet, Comet Is Coming). This is a work that is truly arresting, but often makes you want to wave your arms in the air and dance. In these bleak times that try to push us all further apart, it’s a beautiful, powerful manifesto for hope and collectivism.