Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke widens his musical lens on his fourth solo album, taking in R&B, highlife, bossa nova, industrial hip-hop and more.
His lyrical content is similarly varied, covering everything from race and heritage to love and lust. Sometimes the heavier subjects are accompanied by chaotic instrumentation; there’s a caustic buzz on Let England Burn and brutish guitars eventually overwhelm Cyril’s Blood. The music here has more bark than bite, though, and it distracts from Kele’s sharp words.
The most potent tracks here are the refined, R&B-leaning numbers, in which Kele flourishes. His contemporary odes are touching: on Natural Hair he sings of someone with “heart emojis for his eyes”, and elsewhere hails a woman who’s “real like guava Rubicon”. Back Burner, meanwhile, captures the aches of a fading relationship with quivering guitars and whispered laments. His honeyed, vulnerable-sounding vocals are far better suited to these calmer reflections.
2042 feels like a puzzle. Across 16 tracks, Kele rearranges the pieces of his songwriting — lyrics, vocals and genre — and sometimes they just don’t fit together. The result is an album that has its superb moments, but also its frustrations.
