I Know You're Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try.

Lately, it feels like the world is one endless bad news cycle. Joshua Idehen isn't here to pretend otherwise - but on the spoken word artist's new album, I Know You're Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try, he provides a phenomenal sonic, poetic space. Made with his creative partner, musician Ludvig Parment, the album is an urgent but transcendent collection that holds you through it all, filled with grief, euphoria and hope.

From the opening track You Wanna Dance Or What?, there are poignant stories about the possibilities of human connection - here, a memory of a stranger approaching Joshua when he was feeling low at a club in Leicester Square - set against Parment's freeing beats. There are memories of sunrises on Hampstead Heath (It Always Was), celebrations of the liturgic power of the club (This Is The Place), affirmations that kept Idehen afloat in a particularly dark time (Brother), all dotted with his observations and notes from past conversations with people from all walks of life. On Choose Yourself, Idehen is not so interested in the hokey bath bomb self-care that has dominated discourse the past few years, but in reinforcing self-belief and self-worth - all while never getting too mawkish (see: lines like "Choose a balanced diet/Eat the rich!"). Everything Everywhere All At Once is a stunning exploration of the sliding doors moments of our lives, contemplating all the universes that exist within his daughter, followed by a choral reprise, singing a melody composed by Idehen. "I'm not confident with singing or songwriting, so when the choir sang something I had made and brought it back to me, I had proper tears."

After years of honing his craft, I Know You're Hurting, Everyone Is Hurting, Everyone Is Trying, You Have Got To Try finds Joshua Idehen's pen reaching the next level. This is work that is truly arresting - but simultaneously, thanks to Parment's soundscapes, it 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.