Today multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mike Skinner returns with the second look from the highly anticipated forthcoming album ‘The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light’. Examining life’s nuances and turning the mundane into the extraordinary through his trademark The Streets lens, “Too Much Yayo” is a debaucherous love letter to club culture and the fallout that follows nocturnal weekends spent under shuttering strobe lights and towering sound systems.
“Too Much Yayo” is the first song on the album, and it really is the focus of the first key scene in my film. The film is set in nightclubs, places i’ve spent many nights over the past few years DJing and performing. Obviously , clubs , music and drugs all go hand in hand – and the song really is about setting the scene before the story starts to unfold – we’ve all been in clubs like this and either been the liability or seen the liability. This is one of the beats that really reacted when I was playing it out in DJ sets before it became a song. That’s how I tested out things for this album – it really helps you understand what people react to and feel” – Mike Skinner
Listen “Too Much Yayo” – BELOW:
The music of ‘The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light’ is inextricably linked to the dancefloor, with tidal waves of bass, garage and house laced in, an experience akin to stumbling through different rooms of the club. Skinner, as always, is the keen eye tying his disparate world together, shining with his customary lyrical wizardry and eclectic production. The record is a classic Streets album – with all songs written by Skinner but featuring vocal contributions from longtime collaborators Kevin Mark Trail and Robert Harvey, as well as a track featuring Teef.
‘The Darker The Shadow, The Brighter The Light’ film is a tripped-out noir murder mystery based in London’s clubland. Skinner has written, directed, shot, edited, scored, funded, and even created his own special effects on the film, shooting at a number of different locations in 2022 across the UK. The songs on the album soundtrack the film and also play the role of narrator of the film at times – and whilst neither the album or film exist without each other – both can be enjoyed separately.
The film will initially be screened on Tuesday, the 19th of September, at Everyman Plymouth, touring nationwide through to October 6th. Tickets for the full tour are now available to purchase online with prices from £20 at the link here, where you’ll also be able to pre-order ‘The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light’ album by The Streets.
The album will also be supported by a full, headline The Streets tour across the United Kingdom, commencing in late October, with support from Hak Baker, Joy Anonymous and Master Peace, dates below.
‘THE DARKER THE SHADOW THE BRIGHTER THE LIGHT’ DELUXE EDITION TRACKLIST
1. Too Much Yayo
2. Money Isn’t Everything
3. Walk Of Shame
4. Something To Hide
5. Shake Hands With Shadows
6. Not A Good Idea
7. Bright Sunny Day
8. The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light
9. Funny Dream
10. Gonna Hurt When This Is Over
11. Kick The Can
12. Each Day Gives
13. Someone Else’s Tune
14. Troubled Waters
15. Good Old Daze
DELUXE ALBUM BONUS TRACKS
16. The Good In You
17. Don’t Judge The Book
18. Love At First
19. Original Sin
20. Act Nice
21. Obviously (You Don’t Count)
22. We All Need An Enemy
23. Power Of Love, Love Of Power
The Streets broke through in 2002 with the Mercury Prize nominated ‘Original Pirate Material’ – widely regarded as one of the most influential British albums of recent times, whose impact on culture and UK music can still be felt to this day. Four BRIT Award nominations for Best Album, Best Urban Act, Best Breakthrough Artist and Best British Male Solo Artist followed. “Dry Your Eyes”, from 2005 follow-up album ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’, won an Ivor Novello for Best Song Musically And Lyrically. Skinner additionally received a BRIT Award that same year for best British Male Solo Artist.
Since then, The Streets have released further LPs, “The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living” (2006), Everything Is Borrowed (2008), Computer and Blues (2011) and 2020’s mixtape “None Of Us Are Getting Out of This Alive”, and Skinner has collaborated with a who’s who of British music – from Kano to Fred Again, Greentea Peng and Giggs. In recent years, and with his Mike Skinner LTD label, he’s worked with artists at the tip of the spear of breaking British music, with acts like FLOHIO, Ghetts and Grim Sickers.
An inimitable live performer with bountiful experience both behind the decks and on the microphone, Skinner is renowned for his boisterous onstage presence and ability to grip audiences from crowded basements to Glastonbury headline slots. Whether it’s a live-streamed lockdown performance or a garage and bassline DJ set, Skinner commands the stage with undeniable presence and a quintessentially British tongue-in-cheek attitude. When The Streets announced a comeback tour in 2017, tickets for the dates sold out in less than a minute, it’s all testament to the impact The Streets have had, and continue to have, across several generations of musicians and fans alike.
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