“I’m not growing up, I’m aging / my mind’s incarcerated…” – from the track “You’re a Man Now, Boy”
The lone upside to the endless delays and multiple rescheduled release dates for Raleigh Ritchie’s much-anticipated debut album is that whenever a new date is released, he drops a brand new track to tide fans over. This time it’s the title track from the forthcoming album You’re A Man Now, Boy. The title is brilliant. It evokes the Angry Young Man who populated British film and theater of the 1960s, which is fitting given that Raleigh – in everything from skin hue to disposition – is a potent 21st century remix of that cultural figure.
The persona that has emerged from the singles and EPs Raleigh has released so far is a twenty-something man swimming through a host of cultural influences, trying to find his way in a world of diminished opportunity, fumbling his way through relationships with women, and self-medicating with pills, booze and music as he tries to figure it all out. Armed with a deft lyricist’s hand, and endless reserves of wit and heart, he skates right up to the line of self-pity before pulling away and winning the listener over.
You’re A Man Now, Boy drops February 26, 2016.
Track List (Deluxe CD edition)
- Werld Is Mine
2. Stronger Than Ever
3. Bloodsport ’15
4. I Can Change
5. Keep It Simple feat. Stormzy
6. The Greatest
7. Never Better
8. Cowards
9. A Moor
10. Young & Stupid
11. You’re A Man Now, Boy
12. The Last Romance
13. Never Say Die
14. Life In A Box
15. The Chased
16. Overdose
17. Birthday Girl
18. Stay Inside
