It may only be February, but it looks like a hip hop legend has dropped one of the finest albums of the year. At a time when Urthboy (AKA Tim Levinson) could understandably have been winding down as far as his own music is concerned – he’s in his late 30s, settling into family life – he has emerged with what can only be described as his pièce de résistance. The Past Beats Inside Me Like A Second Heartbeat is a striking, resplendent reflection on the world around him and the private universe he has come to call home.
His highly conceptual lyrical approach blends the introspective with the interpersonal, stepping in and out of the picture as he tells stories of his family (Little Girl’s Dad, Daughter Of The Light, Second Heartbeat) as well as the figures he observes distantly but acutely (the stunning Hey Juanita and Long Loud Hours). The guest list is immaculate too. Long-time collaborators Hermitude, newcomer Sampa The Great and Bertie Blackman all make their presence felt, and this is naming but a few. Each story compels and is masterfully conveyed, whether coming from a place of darkness or of light.
Urthboy has not put a foot wrong here. It is going to take something of mammoth proportions to knock this LP from its perch as the most rewarding and overall best Australian album of the year.
By David James Young
