Dego - Love Was Never Your Goal (LP) 2022 (Mint (M))

Love Was Never Your Goal, released October 2022 on 2000Black, is producer Dego's nine-track meditation on freedom and reinvention, with vocalist Samii appearing across several cuts. The record works through familiar advice, study hard, work hard, treat people well, and then questions whether any of it actually leads anywhere close to being free. It sets up two ways through: grinding out change from within a broken system, or accepting the losses and starting over somewhere that past mistakes don't follow you, holding onto what matters "without the weight of having to shield your liberty." It's a dense, questioning record from a producer who's spent decades shaping UK broken beat and soulful house.