(Wolf+Rothstein/Columbia)The actor and musician’s long-delayed fourth album is a tour de force whose thirst for new sounds recalls 00s
Kanye West If last week now seems forever ago to most of us, a geological aeon has elapsed since Donald Glover – a then medium-famous US TV actor – was widely derided as a try-hard rap dilettante. His 2011 debut album as Childish Gambino, Camp, drew curiosity and disdain. Now, Glover’s fourth studio effort, named after the day it was first streamed with little warning via donaldgloverpresents.com, feels like one of the year’s major musical events. It comes in two forms, one without track breaks, credited to Donald Glover, and one with, credited to Childish Gambino.
It is long delayed, probably because Glover was busy playing the young Lando Calrissian in Solo: A
Star Wars Story and Simba in The Lion King; his father also died, and last year Glover made a short film, Guava Island, starring Rihanna. A song like Feels Like Summer – now renamed 42.26 – was a hit two years ago; Glover’s last
UK tour 12 months ago found room for both the hard-hitting Algorhythm – a dance tune about how humans are outsourcing decision-making to AI – and Time, which blanches at the impending apocalypse alongside Ariana Grande. But this record was worth the wait and is worth your time, a comprehensive deep-dive made for the dedicated concentration of self-isolation.