Album review: Kid Bookie – Songs For The Living // Songs For The Dead

Listen close enough to Kid Bookie’s third album and it feels like he’s trying to tell us something: don’t fucking pigeonhole me. For one, the differences between this release and the previous one – 2022’s Mass Hysteria EP – are profound. That release wore knuckledusters, this new one has a boxing glove on one hand and a bunch of roses in the other.

On top of that, the man born Tyronne Hill has approached genres like a buffet breakfast – he wants a bit of everything. More to the point, he wants to be and do everything.

Bookie wants to do so much that within the first three tracks of the album, it’s like he’s introduced three different versions of himself. The surging opener AI (Save Yourself) is an immediate potential to become a modern rock anthem that’s remembered for years, but then it’s followed by the softer yet still abrasive acoustic guitar of Purgatory. It’s still strong in its own right, even if it would feel more natural arriving in the middle of an album instead of the beginning, but the whiplash-like contrast might raise an eyebrow. Nothing To Believe In is closer in DNA to Purgatory, smartly blending angsty balladry and tight melodies with a sharp burst of rapping.

While he’s perfectly willing to spill his emotions across a record, Bookie’s natural strength lies in the art of crafting gigantic bangers. The verses of Scars see him seize the mic to demonstrate just how fast he can spit his lyrics, while Love Drunk is a breezy, just-sweet-enough left-turn into pop punk and Love Me While You’re Angry fuses his loud and vulnerable sides into a thundering plea for someone’s love to be a constant. More of these wouldn’t be amiss, perhaps, given that a couple of songs – particularly Self Control and DOWN MY FRIEND – are a little too much like fragments than fully realised tracks. Still, the scattershot nature of Songs For The Living… is still a strength, reflecting the mindset of a man who’s up to try anything.

Stomping through genres with stadium-sized personality, Kid Bookie embodies what it means to be a capital-R rock star in 2024.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Linkin Park, Bob Vylan, Magnolia Park

Songs For The Living // Songs For The Dead is out September 13 via Marshall