Cocoa Sugar is the third studio album by Scottish indie group Young Fathers. It was released on Ninja Tune on 9 March 2018. It won the Scottish Album of the Year Award for 2018.[2] It peaked at number 28 on the UK Albums Chart.[3]

Cocoa Sugar
Studio album by
Released9 March 2018 (2018-03-09)
Genre
Length36:45
LabelNinja Tune
Young Fathers chronology
White Men Are Black Men Too
(2015)
Cocoa Sugar
(2018)
Heavy Heavy
(2023)
Singles from Cocoa Sugar
  1. "Lord"
    Released: 31 October 2017
  2. "In My View"
    Released: 17 January 2018
  3. "Toy"
    Released: 28 February 2018

Artwork

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The album art, designed by Tom Hingston and photographed by Julia Noni, features band member Alloysious Massaquoi and is a direct homage to the Waldemar Świerzy's Polish poster for the 1969 drama film Midnight Cowboy.[4][5]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.2/10[6]
Metacritic87/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [8]
The A.V. ClubB+[9]
The Guardian     [10]
The Independent     [11]
Mojo     [12]
NME     [13]
The Observer     [1]
Pitchfork7.3/10[14]
Q     [15]
Uncut8/10[16]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 87, based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[7]

Clayton Purdom of The A.V. Club described the album as "a worthy progression, a tight stretch of otherworldly melodies, ramshackle percussion, and buzzing clouds of woozy ambient sound."[9]

Accolades

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Publication Accolade Rank Ref.
NME Albums of the Year 2018
24
PopMatters 70 Best Albums of 2018
1
The Skinny 50 Best Albums of 2018
1
Stereogum 50 Best Albums of 2018
40

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Kayus Bankole, Timothy London, Graham "G" Hastings and Alloysious Massaquoi, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."See How" 2:01
2."Fee Fi" 2:41
3."In My View" 3:15
4."Turn"
  • Kayus Bankole
  • Graham "G" Hastings
  • Alloysious Massaquoi
  • Dave Sitek
3:36
5."Lord" 3:34
6."Tremolo" 3:08
7."Wow" 4:00
8."Border Girl" 4:01
9."Holy Ghost" 2:32
10."Wire" 1:40
11."Toy" 3:13
12."Picking You"
  • Kayus Bankole
  • Graham "G" Hastings
  • Alloysious Massaquoi
  • Dave Sitek
3:04
Total length:36:45
Japanese edition bonus tracks[21]
No.TitleLength
13."Just a Kid"3:01
14."Out of My Mind Sometimes"2:04
Total length:41:50

Personnel

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  • David Cousin – additional vocals (track 12)
  • Timothy London – co-producer
  • Graham "G" Hastings – mixing (tracks 1–4, 6–12)
  • Laurie Ross – mixing (tracks 1–4, 6–12)
  • Ben Baptie – mixing (track 5)
  • Vlado Meller – mastering
  • Hingston Studio – design and art direction
  • Julia Noni – photography

Charts

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Chart (2018) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[22] 37
UK Albums (OCC)[3] 28
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[23] 4
UK R&B Albums (OCC)[24] 1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[25] 173

References

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  1. ^ a b Morris, Damien (10 March 2018). "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar review – sounds like freedom feels". The Observer. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  2. ^ "Young Fathers win Scottish Album of the Year for Cocoa Sugar". BBC. 7 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  4. ^ Foster, John (14 March 2018). "Judging A Cover By Its Cover: March's best record sleeves". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved 15 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar - Campaign". Hingston Studio. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  6. ^ "Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  7. ^ a b "Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  8. ^ Kellman, Andy. "Cocoa Sugar – Young Fathers". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  9. ^ a b Purdom, Clayton (9 March 2018). "Young Fathers, Cocoa Sugar". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  10. ^ Petridis, Alexis (8 March 2018). "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar review – twisted sounds for a twisted world". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  11. ^ Gill, Andy (8 March 2018). "Album reviews: Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar, Jonathan Wilson – Rare Birds, David Byrne – American Utopia, and more". The Independent. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  12. ^ Cowan, Andy (April 2018). "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar". Mojo (293): 91.
  13. ^ Milton, Jamie (17 March 2018). "Young Fathers – 'Cocoa Sugar' Album Review". NME. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  14. ^ Pearce, Sheldon (16 March 2018). "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar". Pitchfork. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  15. ^ Doyle, Tom (April 2018). "Sugar Daddies". Q (383): 104–05.
  16. ^ Pattison, Louis (April 2018). "Young Fathers: Cocoa Sugar". Uncut (251): 37.
  17. ^ "NME's Albums Of The Year 2018". NME. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  18. ^ "The 70 Best Albums of 2018". PopMatters. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  19. ^ "Albums of 2018 (#1): Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar". The Skinny. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  20. ^ "The 50 Best Albums Of 2018". Stereogum. 4 December 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  21. ^ "BEATINK.COM / Cocoa Sugar". BEATINK.
  22. ^ "Ultratop.be – Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  23. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  24. ^ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  25. ^ "Ultratop.be – Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
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