Paul Alwright: Hungry review – appetite for reconstruction

On Hungry, Dublin rapper Paul Alwright, formerly known as Lethal Dialect, is dissecting his past.

In the highs he finds humility, and in the lows he finds ways to mend his battered spirit. With soft poignancy, he tell his life story as if he’s standing on the outside and looking in.

A true storyteller, Alwright celebrates the chancers and vagabonds that set up shop in an old Dublin pub. The Auld Chinaman was “a melting pot for bikers, republicans, punks, hippies and thugs from Crumlin, known for smuggling skunk” and Alwright uses its descent as a marking point for the social and economical upheaval that Dublin has undergone, an upheaval that parallels his own rise to success.

He fills us in on his journey over an orchestral swell, revisiting a fancy dinner in Tuscany with a musical hero of his on Giants and, on Seeds of Doubts, taking shots at the people who wanted him to fail, wanted to strip him of his achievements.

Honest and reflective, Hungry is an example of what happens if you find new ways to bounce back in a world that wants to knock you down – you come back stronger than ever. facebook.com/PaulAlwrightMusic/