Sweet Baboo recently shared the video for Swallows, taken from his most recent album Wild Imagination (June 2017, Moshi Moshi). Featuring Stephen braving the elements in various historical army gear while his partner and child (also played by Stephen) wait anxiously at home, it’s a light-hearted playful video that compliments the French pop feel of the song. Stephen says of it: ‘This, the final instalment in director James Hankins’ trilogy, is my favourite video so far. For fans of Dunkirk.’After the Harry Nilsson-esque love songs of 2015’s The Boombox Ballads, Black embarks on a new mission on Wild Imagination: to find the perfect pick-me-up antidote to the winter of our discontent.
The result is a bright, wry, melodically buoyant and sweetly melancholy tonic from the North Wales (born in Trefriw, near Snowdonia; now Cardiff-based) singer: a tribute to the joys of travel and the warming return home alike. Previously, Black’s co-travelling collaborators have included Carmarthenshire’s Cate Le Bon. But his sweet sentiments and winning melodies have been constant companions for all open-hearted listeners since 2003. And they prove so once more on Wild Imagination, with impeccable timing.
‘A beautifully judged psych-pop records that hums with warmth, quiet eccentricity and gentle tryness recalling Robert Wyatt, ’60s French pop and Gruff Rhys‘ solo fare’ – Uncut
‘Wild Imagination is a paean to positivity, the songs united by a single thread of finding joy in little things. The standouts here are among the prettiest work that he’s yet turned out’ – DIY
