Album Review: Kele - Trick

It's funny to say it, but in the last half decade of Kele's work, Bloc Party's comeback LP Four is an outlier amongst an otherwise continuous show of strength in another direction. Sure, Four gave Bloc Party fans another great record to rotate out in their stash, but since the band's electronic-heavy third LP, Intimacy, dropped back in 2008, frontman Kele Okereke has kept plenty busy with other projects. 2010 saw Kele's solo debut in The Boxer, an LP with a smorgasbord of sounds you might expect from late aughts Kele armed with an MPC (the lead single "Tenderoni" was and still is a total banger of a dance pop track). The record's EP follow up, The Hunter, dropped the next year, giving us another great single with "What Did I Do?" and six other offerings. While working on some other projects between now and then, Kele has waited until this year to give us the next chapter in this series with Trick. A lean, mean dance pop grinder, Trick is without a doubt the best solo Kele record there is and maybe the best dance full-length since Disclosure's Settle last year. Ever one to break the rules and boundaries of the sound that gave him his foundation, Kele Okereke continues to push into new territory with a pounding dance beat leading the way.

After regrouping with his band to record another record and tour the crap out of it, Kele returned to the tables in late 2013 with newfound conviction on two no-nonsense dance records for UK dance label CrossTown Rebels, "Heartbreaker" and "Candy Flip". Neither track is all too friendly to mainstream radio - the first is a deep house burner not too far removed from Disclosure cuts like "F For You", while the second is a grimy, house-tinged blood boiler. Furthermore, neither track is very heavy on Kele's unmistakable vocals - rather, the production does the talking, and yet, both records hold their own in a crowded room. There's no mistaking the fact that Kele has taken a larger interest in both EDM and the indie dance music scene in the last couple years, seeing him lend vocals to an array of different beats from the likes of Tiesto to RAC. But so much more than a feature, Kele is coming to prove himself in even more arenas than before with these great CrossTown offerings.

However, Trick is consciously separate from these offerings. Given to us by Kele as opposed to Kele Okereke, there is a clear connection drawn between Trick and Boxer and The Hunter, while evolving the sounds at hand to be consistent with the direction of the scene. One thing that Kele has dialed into on Trick more so than the prior solo pop records is a well-defined sound. Both his prior records have explored interesting territory, but both suffered from a lack of continuity as a singular listen. In sharp contrast, Trick is both memorable for its excellent singles, "Doubt" and "Coasting", as well as the full album experience. From the cool, collected intro whisper of "First Impressions" through the sensual heat of "Like We Used To" and "Humour Me", all the way to the lightness and melancholy of closer "Stay The Night", Trick moves and breathes in a much more organic form than any previous solo Kele effort, and even rivals Intimacy in terms of its continuity.

But that's not where comparisons to Intimacy should end - Trick also dials in on a raw sensuality that we haven't seen since then either. "First Impressions", "Coasting", and "Doubt" may start things off on handshake terms, but "Closer" makes a much stronger call for love before the lights turn down lower on the next three tracks. Side B opener "Humour Me" is an easy highlight on Trick, with its relentless house beat and textbook Kele punchiness on the vocals. As the beat drives forward, Kele tempts a stagnant love back to life with a bit of spontaneity - delicious stuff. After "Year Zero" takes things back to square one, "My Hotel Room" gives us an interesting third quarter track, which a constant swell track guided lightly by Kele's haunting falsetto. Broken love and new beginnings are balanced in the formless opportunity of a hotel room. The surging track always feels like it's on the edge of explosion, but refuses to give in completely, much like the characters described in the lyrics. Finally, the record ends in a way not altogether unlike Boxer. "Stay The Night" is a resolution track after the tumult of the ups and downs of the relational roller coasts in the preceding nine tracks, where everything is simple and there are no tricks involved. Almost an antithesis to the lyrical themes of Intimacy, Kele explores the importance of doubt in reaching a new level of trust. "You just don't want to get sprung", he sings to a conflicted lover, not willing to let go of some idea of trickery at hand and follow instinct. "Stay The Night" ties the record together incredibly well, giving a great capstone on Kele's most focused collection of lyrical themes in six years. It's absolutely the ending Trick deserves.

After this, who knows where Kele will go next? More singles for CrossTown are a possibility, diving deeper into the UK electronic murkiness, hiding the man behind the curtain with lights and sound and sensory overload. But no matter how magical the production grows to be, records like Trick help us remember that Kele is so much more than a dance producer. Even with the raging 2-step and the deep house and all of the trendiness, every track on Trick explores a separate relational theme that comes together in the end like clockwork. A spiritual successor to Bloc Party's Intimacy, perhaps influenced by another half decade of love and heartbreak, Kele asks some fantastic questions on this record and helps us find our own love in greater strength, on and off the dance floor.

Trick is out now on Lilac. Grab it at your local record store on CD or vinyl. Kele will be DJing throughout Europe for the rest of the year, but keep an eye on his Facebook for any US dates in the future. Remember that he played Chop Suey on the Boxer tour a couple years ago - another intimate session isn't altogether out of the question!