Is there a more articulate and distinctive voice in UK hip-hop in 2016 than Kate Tempest? Perhaps not. It’s not just the format-neutral lyrical colour that the south Londoner appears capable of summoning - her talents have diversified to include a novel and a poetry collection - but the invention within her storytelling.
Her second album, ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’, is a record of remarkable intelligence and decisive, confident cohesion, wearing its weather-beaten heart on its sleeve and describing a world of anarchic sorrow spinning out of control.
This sense of cohesion is multifaceted. The production feels one part MF Doom, one part Jack Garratt and one part forgotten Mega Drive game.
While this sound skates gloriously close to Nathan Barley’s Trashbat Rap on tracks like Lionmouth Door Knocker and Europe is Lost, Tempest just about manages to stay on the right side of humorous.
But poetry is often po-faced, especially when dealing with the ruthlessly gritty subject matter to which Tempest is drawn. Pictures on a Screen talks of a Mancunian yuppie called Bradley, lost in London, hopelessly alienated and saying to himself: “I know it’s happening, but who is it happening to?”
Elsewhere, Perfect Coffee tells the story of Zoe, forced to move house after the landlord has tripled the rent (“He’s going to get it an’ all”), and going through her youthful possessions, now piled up in black bin bags. This is Tempest at her best, a warrior poet raging against modern tragedies that a whole generation has blithely accepted.
There are also effective recurring tropes, such as the repetition of 04:18. Here, Tempest appears to be summoning a lost hinterland that draws the disparate characters together; a forgotten kingdom between night and day where “even the drugs have got boring”. This is austerity Britain with a vicious hopelessness, tired and confused, waiting for nothing to happen.
‘Let Them Eat Chaos’ continues where its author left off by pulling few punches with its tales of drug-taking, destitution and doom on London’s lonely streets. It also demonstrates bonafide progress from 2014’s Mercury Prize-nominated ‘Everybody Down’. It is gung ho in its introspection, and unapologetic in its sorrow. If she decides to soften her tone, Tempest will be poet laureate one day.
Kate Tempest Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue November 29 2016 - DUBLIN Whelans
Wed November 30 2016 - BELFAST Empire Music Hall
Thu December 01 2016 - GLASGOW Art School
Sat December 03 2016 - SHEFFIELD Plug
Sun December 04 2016 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Institute
Mon December 05 2016 - NORWICH UEA The Waterfront
Wed December 07 2016 - MANCHESTER O2 Ritz
Thu December 08 2016 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Fri December 09 2016 - HOVE All Saints Church
Sun December 11 2016 - LONDON Roundhouse
Sat May 27 2017 - LONDON O2 Academy Brixton
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