Kele The Boxer

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The Boxer
(Wichita/Cooperative/Shock)

Whatever your thoughts on Bloc Party singer-guitarist Kele Okereke has a voice that drips pathos. Everything he sings is like a secret hes releasing only because its welled up inside him for long enough. It's been just as big a part of the English quartets global appeal as has its nimble danceable hybrid of post-punk and guitar-pop. And its a natural fit with the spare twitchy digital backdrop Okereke has forged for his first solo album.

Working with Spank Rock producer XXXchange Okereke achieves something akin to what Thom Yorke did with The Eraser: he sheds the limitations of fronting a band to explore electronic musics endless sense of space. Okereke may call upon the soulful presence of genre-hopping singers Jodie Scantlebury and Bobbie Gordon for half of the songs but this record nevertheless feels intensely personal. (The album title is a reference to his time learning kick-boxing when Bloc Party began its current hiatus.)

Okereke obviously takes great care choosing his words hes penned a forthcoming book of short stories and throughout The Boxer he manages to put himself way out there emotionally while keeping the lyrics safely vague. The refrains Im learning to be laidback Youre making me older / Youre making me ill and Theres a voice in my head that I probably should have trusted all get at self-improvement by way of regret pushing along an album that culminates with Yesterdays Gone a celebration of resilience in the face of everything endured before. Thats not to say a track like the opening Walk Tall lacks confidence; in fact it flirts with the possibility of being a chest-pounding club banger. Lead single Tenderoni mixed by Chris Coady (TV On The Radio Dappled Cities) replica michele sale is the kind of song that gets you pumped before a big night out whereas On The Lam gets its kicks by tweaking old-school electro-pop with unexpected drum breaks.

Still its the tender moments that truly resonate. On the beautifully produced New Rules Okereke plays everything close to his chest as thin traces of sound ricochet around an impossibly intimate automated phone message. And more than anywhere else baume mercier diamant replica watches he utterly sells the emotion behind the single-worthy Everything You Wanted. Despite the constant electronics on display theres no icy detachment here. As much as this formula works for Okereke a few songs tastefully mix things up: Rise nails a glitch-y house beat and almost Bowie-ish vocal turn while the chant-like singing of Other Side recalls TV On The Radio and the wobbly guitar line on Unholy Thoughts brings back those New Order comparisons Bloc Party was saddled with early on.

Lets not downplay the role of XXXchange however. The producer gets to showcase his abilities outside of a strictly hip-hop/electro setting catering his many tricks to what best suits Okereke. Sonically The Boxer is clean thrumming replica hamilton watch and all too effective. Its never hemmed in by whats expected of it but at the same time XXXchange hasnt ditched the random little choices of sounds that made Spank Rocks YoYoYoYoYo so interesting on the ears. This is a dream pairing really yielding results far stronger than even the most loyal Bloc Party fans might have guessed.

Doug Wallen