- There's always been something about Donald Glover that seemed to good to be true. For the uninitiated he’s a true triple threat; probably more like a quintuple or hextuple, to be honest. As old as it makes me feel, Glover cut his teeth as a member of semi-successful, internet sketch group Derrick Comedy before spending a handful of years writing for the Tina Fey powerhouse 30 Rock, only to step out from the shadows as loveable idiot Troy Barnes on the pretty good, but not great, but definitely not bad sitcom Community; all the while balancing that five year stint alongside his emerging career as an actual, legitimate hip-hop artist. Recording and producing music under the alias Childish Gambino, Glover has, to date, released seven mix-tapes, two EPs and two studio full-lengths. His music as a whole is not always super- well received by critics, but adored by those a decade or so my juniors. I find myself straddling the fence like a confused man-child trying his best to age gracefully whilst still staying hip to those goddamn kids. For good or for bad, Childish Gambino has been making hip-hop music very much his own terms.

It’s nearly three years to the day since the release of previous Childish Gambino full-length Because The Internet, and whilst Glover has continued to dabble creatively, across the board, his output until very recently has contained nothing to get wildly excited about. You could feel the tide changing with the birth of Glover’s most personal and important piece of work to date, the ambitious, well-crafted and slightly surreal television series, Atlanta. A show -in simple terms- about a semi-autobiographical version of Glover attempting to get his life on track; a show, incidentally, in which Glover also stars, writes, produces and occasionally directs. It’s an important creative shift, realigning Glover’s sensibilities: moving away from a lot of the bravado and exaggerations to an increasingly earnest but down-to-earth approach to his art. It's an evolution that quite literally has crossed over to his latest and third full-length LP, Awaken, My Love!

While never your stereotypical hip-hop artist by a long-shot, on Awaken, My Love! Glover goes beyond pushing and blurring stylistic boundaries in the extreme; fans expecting any form of rap record should modify their expectations and brace their collective butt-holes for that sweet, sweet sound of '70’s era freak-funk and psychedelic soul. Let’s just be clear, there’s literally not any rapping on the record, in the very slightest, just Glover and his, apparently, very healthy pipes. Drawing from childhood memories of his parent’s record collection, Glover touches heavily on the wild, weird and otherworldly p-funk of George Clinton, takes a little of Ron Isley’s gospel infused soul and mixes it all with a dash Sly Stone’s sensual and slightly rockier musical leanings; it's all regurgitated and reimagined with a modern gaze that is equal parts invigorating and agonizing.

There’s no doubt some people will see Awaken, My Love! as more imitation than homage, but it’s undeniably more than that. Anyway, fans of Childish Gambino appear to be skewed heavily to the younger end of the age spectrum and there’s every chance a chunk of them will be clueless to the comparisons and just indulge. Also, if it turns just one kid on to the merits of classic funk and soul then I don’t have any issue with that, either. This is throwback music for people that unknowingly spent their lives being fed rehashed musical ideas anyway. It's an album with some truly odd twists and turns which are appreciated even if some don't quite hit the mark; at least Glover has approached the task in an extremely fresh and interesting way: 

One thing that cannot be denied is Donald Glover’s ability to pull this homage off, and it does come off far better than expectations would ever dictate. His voice alone is an unexpected delight. For a regular sized dude at times he sounds almost possessed by the demon spirt of funk. Glover wails with the conviction of the devil one minute, then sensually seduces me the very next. When he’s sporadically joined by a full choir and backed with full band, the record truly soars to some unlikely dizzying heights and they more than justify Childish Gambino’s complete one-eighty. There’s no doubt it would have been more commercially viable and far simpler for Donald Glover to put out another hip-hop record and just keep travelling down the path already travelled, but I have this stinking feeling there’s something lodged deep within this guy that refuses to take the easy way out. Instead he's throwing caution to the damned wind and for that reason alone I’ll always keep my good eye planted in his general direction. Watching, waiting. Dreaming.

- Jay Edwards