Lil Silva's Yesterday Is Heavy remains firmly in the present with a beating club heart

Bridging the the gap between his songwriter dayshift and UK funky nightshift and features several recognisable collaborators including Sampha, BADBADNOTGOOD and Ghetts, there’s an assuredness and anthemic nature to the Bedford producer, singer, and DJ’s efforts.

Born TJ Carter, the now 32-year-old crafts in a way that holds up raw but developed soundscapes. Lil Silva plays with light and dark edges on Yesterday Is Heavy, from the experimental, bass-centric club grooves to heavier beats, and his soul tugging bluesy, breathy vocals which ties everything together no more noticeable than on soaring opener “Another Sketch”. Some of the record’s greatest moments undeniably being the rippling sub bass in the mix of “September”, samples sliced around the powerful drums that deliver a reactive mix of beats that fit the dark mood of the mix. Instrumental “To the Floor” sees the bass line driving the track into unsettled somewhat spacey territory.

Releasing the Jimi EP, his last sizeable offering in 2016 and dabbling in vocals even as early as his 2014 Mabel EP, impulse was acted upon on Yesterday is Heavy and rightly so, Lil Silva has crafted a record that is a combination of the tools, influences, ideas, and collaborators he’s collected over 12 years in the industry and he’s fought for the magnetic centre of each track, using strings, samples and more to voice the beautiful and the less so. From the descending, soulful lines on “Backwards” with its urgent pulse to the glassy textures of “Vera (Judah Speaks)" with a club energy always moments away from being revisited, refreshingly, Yesterday Is Heavy never lets you veer too far from the present tense.