Cry Sugar is the third studio album by Hudson Mohawke, the alias of Scottish musician Ross Birchard. It was released on 12 August 2022 on Warp Records. It has received generally favorable critical reviews.
Background Cry Sugar is Birchard's first album of new material since his 2016 soundtrack for the video game Watch Dogs 2 and his first full-length solo release in the digital streaming era. In a press release, Birchard described the album as influenced by his move to Los Angeles, in which he observed its "American decadence" and compared it to the "apocalyptic film scores" of artists such as Vangelis and John Williams." Gospel and soul samples feature on much of the album, a quality rooted in Birchard's admiration for the tradition of hip-hop producers including DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Just Blaze. Chad Hugo of the Neptunes contributed to the track "Redeem". The track "Stump" was inspired by Max Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight", heard in the soundtrack of Shutter Island (2010).
The cover artwork by Willehad Eilers depicts a debauched scene featuring Donald Duck in a thong. A music video for the single "Bicstan" was directed by Patti Harrison and Alan Resnick. Visuals for the "Megamix" and "Stump" releases were made by an artist named kingcon2k11 using a neural network.
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Cry Sugar received an average score of 79, based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".
Louis Torracinta of Clash suggested the album "may take the cake for dance record of the year," adding that it "pulls from everywhere, all at once, swimming in the old and celebrating ecstatically the new." David Renshaw of The Fader stated that Birchard's "love of the wildly high BPM club sound of hardcore is blended with soulful gospel samples and epic movie-score landscapes to create a project that's irreverent, yet moving and hypnotic as well." Alexis Petridis of The Guardian stated that "there's an edge-of-chaos tone to Cry Sugar, an album on which almost every sound fizzes with distortion and the music occasionally sounds on the verge of collapse." Gaby Wood of Resident Advisor called the album Birchard's "definitive solo effort" which "sees him re-emerge not as a jack but a master of all trades, fusing soul, jazz, happy hardcore and dance into vibrant, technicolor explosions of sound that succinctly capture the mood of our time in all its fitful glory and pain." Arielle Lana LeJarde of Mixmag described Cry Sugar as a "62-minute-long hallucinogenic trip into our innermost emotions through frantically introspective, groove-coaxing tunes."
"Lonely Days" was named one of Clash's top tracks of 2022.
Track listing All tracks produced by Hudson Mohawke, except "Redeem", co-produced with Chad Hugo, and "Kpipe", co-produced with KÁRYYN. Notes
"Kpipe" is stylised in all caps.
Sample credits
"Intentions" contains a sample of "I Pray", performed by Copyright, featuring Imaani. "Behold" contains a sample of "For Your Glory", performed by Tasha Cobbs. "Lonely Days" interpolates "Soon As I Get Home", performed by Faith Evans. "Redeem" contains a sample of "Redeemed", performed by Rev. Gerald Thompson. The sample was later removed from streaming services. "3 Sheets to the Wind" contains a sample of "Cry Sugar", performed by Dyson's Faces. "Some Buzz" contains samples of "God Has Smiled On Me", performed by Rev. James Cleveland, and "I Think I Am In Love With You", performed by Wee.
Personnel Credits adapted from official liner notes.
Musicians
Ross Birchard – instruments , production , additional keys Cid Rim – additional drums Yasmeen Al-Mazeedi – strings , additional strings Kwes – piano Rett Smith – guitar Johan Lenox – string arrangement Rag n Bone Broth Man – accordion L. Ron Weasley – additional triangle Jamaica Elrahar – vocals Girth, Wind & Fire – percussion Mette Towley – vocals Clarence Coffee Jr – vocals Dj JeffMillsShoes – scratches Tayla Parx – additional vocal FX , vocals Eli Teplin – additional keys Tkay Maidza – vocals Chad Hugo – production , additional keys Ayatollah Hogmanay – flexatone KÁRYYN – production , vocals Jonty Chapeau – guiro Sasha Alex Sloan – vocals
Technical
Ross Birchard – mixing Austin Seltzer – mixing Joker – mixing , mastering
Charts Chart (2022) Peakposition
References
External links