Advertisement

Album reviews Music

Kele

Rating: NN


Kele Okereke didn’t sound very comfortable in rock star mode on his Bloc Party outfit’s last couple of records, so it’s not a huge surprise to see the erstwhile frontman fully embracing electronic music on his debut solo album. The surprising part is that he doesn’t sound quite comfortable here either.

[rssbreak]

The album starts well enough with Walk Tall, a busy track that combines huge dubstep beats with boot-camp chants, before melding into Kele’s biggest Bloc Party departure, the pitch-shifting On The Lam.But then we get tracks like All The Things I Could Never Say, a typical introspective Kele ballad that replaces angular post-punk with an obnoxious hookless synth and drum machine arrangement because, well, that’s just the route he’s decided to take on this album. Once the stylistic novelty wears off, you realize you’re just listening to a subpar Bloc Party record with a few new bells and whistles.

Top track: On The Lam

Kele plays the Mod Club July 29.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted