(Warp)
The LA-based singer fuses old-school vocals with cutting-edge music on her alluring debut
Can one successfully rewind and fast-forward at the same time? Kelela, it seems, is a dab hand at it. Over the course of one celebrated mixtape, 2013’s Cut 4 Me, a 2015 EP, Hallucinogen, and, now, her long-awaited debut album, one of the most arresting new voices in R&B has created a deft stitch in time, laying 90s R&B vocals over cutting-edge digital production techniques. If that summary seems reductionist or formulaic, it shouldn’t: Take Me Apart is a very spacious operation in which the 34-year-old ponders love, lust and hurt as soundbeds break down around her.
LMK, the lead track, is Kelela’s most accessible case in point. As hyper-modern come-hither, it finds Kelela propositioning someone. “No one’s tryna settle down,” she breathes, “all you gotta do is let me know.” A pretty keyboard twinkle and some throwback handclap beats become wedded to doomy resonances, courtesy of producer Jam City, who throws in fast-forwarding audio tape squeak for good measure. Half a dozen Kelelas weigh in, on ecstatic “oh”s, little half-spoken raps, on FKA twigs-like high notes. The no-strings hook-up is a standard trope of pop music, but Kelela is nobody’s disposable night friend.
Continue reading...from Music | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2kxXAw8
0 comments:
Post a Comment