And the children keep on singing, singing…
[Video][Website]
[5.14]
Alfred Soto: The riots affected Joker to such a degree that he can’t find a rhythm. Luckily the kid choir — chopped and contrapuntal — and piano add the gravitas.
[6]
Anthony Easton: Has there been a really good song about the implications of the riots in the UK last year? I mean, this isn’t it: the children’s choir, the innocent old lady victims, the terrible rhymes, the ambiguous messaging, the painful instrumentation, etc. But is there a decent one?
[3]
Katherine St Asaph: “We need to show love,” he says, then feeds VV Brown’s kids’ chorus some synth gruel from “Princess of China.” Something about this is supposed to be uplifting.
[3]
Iain Mew: I guess Buggsy can’t help his high-pitched whine, which doesn’t get any more enjoyable at high speed, but he could have come up with a better choice of words than “merked,” which sits ill at ease with the attempted seriousness. Almost everything else in the track sits just as ill at ease with everything else.
[3]
Kat Stevens: Grim, but necessary.
[7]
Brad Shoup: I dig the aural decay: rotting piano, rusting wire clattering in the background. Fortunately, the kids sound resilient. They get a little interplay with Buggsy, but perhaps to keep “Lost” from an “Oh Boy” or “Gone” situation, it’s replaced with placidly large synths, as if Joker’s smuggling his message into the club. A great musical contrast of blight and complacence.
[8]
Andrew Ryce: The Joker album wasn’t exactly impressive, but it had some good beats carrying that same glorious mix of majesty and machismo that Joker’s best work has been about. The instrumental to “Lost” is one of those, made of swelling synths and Timbaland-esque stutters. The children’s choir needs to go, though, and while Buggsy is a great MC, his message is a bit ham-fisted. This has been a Public Service Announcement from Joker Space Boy.
[6]