NEW: Dave – We’re All Alone In This Together – Album

@AAdade9

When it comes to highly anticipated albums from UK artists, look no further than Dave. After releasing his outstanding debut album ‘Psychodrama’. Dave fans have been pleading for a new project. Sophomore albums often define artists. Yes, you created a brilliant body of work the first time around, but you had your whole career leading up to that moment to do so.

What shows if you are here to stay is if you are capable of doing it again. So let’s take an in-depth look into Dave’s sophomore album, ‘We’re All Alone In This Together’.

The album starts with Dave showing his talent using clever rhyme schemes before sharing a serious message about helping a fan who had suicidal thoughts. Dave beautiful illustrates how he can empathise with people going through tough times as he is human, and just like everyone else has been in a dark space before.

Last year Dave teased a snippet of a song in his car that sounded incredible. The full version is titled ‘Verdansk’ and features on the album. Sometimes snippets don’t live up to the hype when the full version comes out. However, with the cold beat, Dave’s icy flow, and bars. This one was always going to be a banger, and ‘Verdansk’ does not disappoint.

The cool single ‘Clash’ featuring Stormzy fits in nicely in the earlier part of the project. A standout track on the album is ‘In The Fire’ where a few hidden features in Fredo, Meekz, Ghetts, and Giggs appear and berserk on over a very soulful beat. Dave also dishes out some great bars of his own to make sure he isn’t upstaged by some of the heavyweights on the track.

Dave is mostly known for his insightful lyrics and the real content he touches on. He presents this in songs such as ‘Three Rivers’ and ‘Heart Attack’. On the former, Dave highlights the irony in how immigrants are getting deported from the UK. When once upon a time, they were forced into Europe to slave away. He also notes the hypocrisy some have shown during the pandemic thanking key workers, many of which who have minority backgrounds.

‘Heart Attack’ is a follow-up to Dave’s brilliant 2016 song ‘Panic Attack’. Dave brilliantly plays off some of his old lyrics while switching them up to add more meaning. He raps about how life was for him growing up in South London and all the struggles he went through with hood politics. He also details everything his mum had to do to keep her head above water. The storytelling ability levels Dave displays are quite simply immaculate.

There’s a touching skit at the end of the song where Dave’s mum details how little help she got in her early time in the country. Things were so bad that she lived in the streets for a few years. The pain in her voice is honestly heartbreaking. With gentle piano keys played in the background, you can’t help but feel genuine sadness for her. The imagery Dave and his mum provokes in this song is mind blowing. Allowing himself and his family to be so vulnerable on a song for the whole world to hear is one of the many reasons people love Dave so much.

In a project filled with a lot of pain rap, it’s vital to offer some contrast. Dave does just that with ‘System’ featuring Wiz Kid and ‘Lazarus’ featuring Boj. On these tunes, the energy completely switches up. The Afro beats sound takes over your body and makes you feel good. These songs are high in replay value and essential to having a long lasting album as these types of tunes will be played worldwide for a very lengthy time.

There are a few other notable features in the project. Snoh Aalegra appears on ‘Law Of Attraction’ and James Blake on ‘Both Sides of A Smile’. Snoh sounds good over the slow, laid back instrumental, but overall the song is quite forgettable.

Nevertheless, ‘Both Sides of A Smile’ is a completely different story. With the aid of Sha Simone, Dave goes into unfortunate problems that can come up in relationships. The beat then switches up with beautiful humming from James Blake over the majestic piano keys. Dave poetically goes deeper into his authentic thoughts on some of his actual past relationships.

The album closes with Dave reminiscing about moments in his life over some angelic, soft vocals from Jorja Smith. There’s a lot of food for thought on this track. Dave says things such as “It’s a shame it takes fallin’ to your death for a person to appreciate, fully the gravity of the situation”. Sadly this is often the case. People tend to ignore cries for help until it’s too late.

‘We’re All Alone In This Together’ is a great body of work, and it’s safe to say that Dave has avoided the dreaded sophomore curse. The album is full of lyrical content with great substance. There are also a few uplifting songs to vibe with, which is essential. The album takes you through an emotional rollercoaster. Dave’s elite storytelling and touching skits hit you hard. Great music at the end of the day is supposed to make you feel something, and this album does that to great lengths.

Make sure you take in Dave’s new album ‘We’re All Alone In This Together’ below, here at Pass The Aux.