Bakar: Nobody’s Home review – a spectacularly strong sense of place

(Black Butter)
The singer-songwriter’s eloquent if uneven debut album is stamped with the sounds of north London – Winehouse, Blur – the place he grew up

When the up-and-coming north London singer Bakar broke via in 2019, it was with an enthralling retro love music, Hell N Back. Breezy, brass-laden however sprinkled with enough drug references to take care of a good edge, Hell N Again channelled the classic multicultural London sass of a younger Lily Allen; its horns and overindulgence spoke of a love for Amy Winehouse. Bakar’s was a distinctive London voice making an uncommon splash in the US (200m-plus streams), earning props, mentoring and even some catwalk action from the late Virgil Abloh, among different early adopters.

The son of a Tanzanian mother who relocated to Camden, Abubakar Baker Shariff-Farr had different strings to his bow, too. In 2017, his debut single was a snaggle-toothed indie rock minimize referred to as Big Dreams, which appeared like Gorillaz in the uncooked, all punky supply and melodic bounce – more of a Blur tune, in reality (each bands involve Damon Albarn).