ALBUM REVIEWS
“Are we gonna die?” – it’s a stark question to start with, but ‘Bando Stone and The New World’ is a death of sorts. On his fifth and final musical venture as Childish Gambino, the iconoclast Donald Glover bids farewell to the once-wandering persona he created 19 years ago after no longer finding music “fulfilling”.
Gambino has explored various musical styles throughout his career. His early albums ‘Camp’ (2011) and ‘Because The Internet’ (2013) introduced him as an eccentric backpack rapper, while ‘Awaken, My Love!’ (2016) and ‘Atavista’ (2024) – the expanded version of his 2020 self-leaked project ‘3.15.20’ – showcase his evolution into a world-building experimentalist.
The album – which will also double as the soundtrack to Glover’s upcoming dystopian survival movie of the same name – calls back to many of these points from his past work. It’s full of cinematic interludes that bring to mind ‘Because The Internet’, while ‘Survive’ feels like a radio-worthy leftover from ‘Atavista’ and ‘Steps Beach’ has the same dreaminess as his ‘Kauai’ mixtape.
Even on ‘Yoshinoya’, the disruptor brings us back to the 2010s by rapping over an evocative experimental beat reminiscent of Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt. At first, Gambino allegedly guns for Drake, telling the 6God to “stay where you at, supposed to, boy” in his signature laid-back flow before issuing a “code red for old heads who never liked my short shorts and PRO-Keds”. Even in his final form, Gambino is still hyper-aware of the critics and proudly sticks his middle finger up at them, just as he did back in his 2011 debut single ‘Bonfire’.
Although you can draw parallels to the other versions of Childish Gambino, ‘Bando Stone…’ is by no means a nostalgic feat. As well as looking back, the star also moves forward. Lyrically, the once-quirky oddball has matured into a man who touches on themes such as fatherhood, love, faith and more, while his sonic repertoire gets a fresh expansion, too.
‘Lithonia’ sees him try his hand at a mini rock opera, injecting it with a similar grungy angst as Radiohead’s seminal 1993 hit ‘Creep’. ‘Got To Be’ is drastically different, fooling us into believing it will take the form of a melodic house anthem before ear-shattering synths blare through your speakers during this frenetic, Prodigy-sampling Atlanta club tribute. Glover even reverts to his old yearning ways on ‘Real Love’ – a feel-good pick-me-up where he sings about wanting to “be someone that you can count on” and “be everything that you wanted [him] to be” in a breathy higher register that conveys a charming innocence.
With the help of Afro-fusion superstar Amaarae, R&B pioneer Jorja Smith, confident spitter Flo Milli and even his son Legend on his last musical hurrah, Glover has made a record as otherworldly as his other outings. Yet, ‘Bando Stone and The New World’ stumbles slightly – where its sonic variety is exciting, it lacks a clear sense of cohesion or theme compared to his previous work – making it a bittersweet farewell to the legend of Childish Gambino.
ALBUM REVIEWS
The leather jackets and skinny jeans worn by Noah Dillon and Chandler Ransom Lucy have become something of a signature, and the pair have hovered around the edges of the pop worlds in New York and Los Angeles for quite some time. First highlighted by NME during the Dimes Square resurgence in 2023, The Hellp have gradually stepped away from their earlier indie-sleaze imitation and leaned into something far more thoughtful. Their wild, neon-tinged party vibe has been traded for a more cinematic electronic approach that still holds onto a confident, self-aware attitude.
Dillon and Lucy started releasing music as The Hellp in 2016, with early mixtapes rooted in the chaotic nights and carefree behaviour once associated with NYC’s indie-sleaze staples like LCD Soundsystem and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Over time, though, they’ve earned a steadily growing respect from critics. That rise has come through both their underground gigs, which have included a show at London’s Corsica Studios with Fakemink as support, and through Dillon’s expanding visual work that recently reached Rosalía’s ‘LUX’ album and a pair of music videos for 2hollis.
As ‘Riviera’ approached release, the duo shared: “We knew our next project would need to be a bit more mature… we refuse to become stagnant. ‘Riviera’ is more solemn, restrained and impassioned than anything we’ve done before.” The finished album feels like Dillon and Lucy carefully balancing identity and openness, theatricality and direct emotion.
The lead release, ‘Country Road’, carries a late-night heaviness, the kind of confession you would quietly tell a friend in a club’s smoking area. Its lonely tone is surrounded by glitching electronics and a rising bridge that points to the exhaustion that follows endless nights out. Tracks like ‘New Wave America’ and ‘Cortt’ deepen what the duo mention in their liner notes as a “desperate story of the disparate Americana.” Both pieces broaden the album’s emotional landscape and offer clear-eyed commentary on reluctantly stepping into adulthood.
When ‘Riviera’ shifts into ‘Doppler’, the tone brightens for a moment as hopeful synths lift Dillon’s words about yearning and heartbreak into an emotional peak. And in the final moments of the record, The Hellp land on something instantly familiar to anyone who has drifted away from the club scene. The Kavinsky-like opening of ‘Here I Am’ nods to their early inspirations, while the closing track ‘Live Forever’ arrives with a slow, grounded maturity, built around Dillon repeating the line: “I don’t want to live forever.”
‘Riviera’ holds far less disorder than The Hellp’s earlier releases. This turn inward marks an important risk for a duo once fuelled by the momentum of a downtown New York comeback. By easing off the frenzy, The Hellp have stepped out of the party’s lingering haze and returned with a style that feels more refined and more aware of itself than anything they have created before.
