<p><span><span>- After a two record long melancholic dirge, the “best boy band since One Direction” are back with an album that is as bold and assertive as their best. With a new decade and yet mostly the same world issues as always, Brockhampton have embraced collaboration and camp to cope.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Their new record <em>ROADRUNNER</em>, subtitled with <em>NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE </em>is named half after the Looney Toons character and half to reference their new perspective. Brockhampton’s light is no longer on dim, their songs are their most interesting since their 2017 <em>Saturation </em>trilogy, and with features from <strong>Danny Brown</strong>, <strong>JPEGMAFIA</strong>, and <strong>A$AP Rocky</strong> -to name a few- their machine has more gears and bolts than ever before.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>As a hip hop collective, it should go without saying that Brockhampton’s strength lies in the intersection of their ideas. In their most iconic songs, tracks like <em>QUEER</em>, <em>BOOGIE</em> and <em>JOUVERT</em>, individual members of Brockhampton take centre stage while the rest of the band offer acapella, comedic or intense backing vocals. The way they homogenised with ease would present them as tight as a ‘90’s boyband, captured in a fisheye lens.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>For the most part, <em>ROADRUNNER </em>capitalises on this technique with a refreshing camp quality. On the sultry hip-hop of <em>WINDOWS</em>, cartoonish samples guide you through a heated verse between <strong>Kevin Abstract</strong> and <strong>Merlyn Wood</strong>. As Wood passes a mention our way, “<em>Honestly, wouldn’t fly a Melbourne chick to Sydney</em>,” Kevin Abstract eggs him on.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>Buzzcut</em>, the Danny Brown adorned opener, contrasts the album’s lighthearted instrumental tone, with brilliant lyrics shattering the value of his success amidst police brutality and institutionalised racism: “<em>Told him I made it to Hollywood, all it took was a summer to fail / A platinum record not gon' keep [his] Black ass out of jail.</em>”</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The moments of sadness across <em>ROADRUNNER </em>feel less melodramatic than they did on 2018’s good but not great, <em>iridescence</em>. Perhaps that shift in tone comes both from the lighthearted samples and backing vocals across the record, but also because the lyrics that do dwell and despair feel earned given the world’s; largely America’s state in 2020.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>As racist police brutality is more visible than when <strong>Childish Gambino</strong> released <em>This Is America</em> three years ago, as is homophobia and the physical disconnect caused by the pandemic, you can’t fault their change in tone. Brockhampton find closeness with new collaborators and seek both the lightheartedness evoked by <em>ROADRUNNER’s </em>Looney Toons references and the apt anger of their world.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Sean Tayler.</span></span></p>
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