Rehash

I’m not gonna hide it. The whole ‘I don’t even listen to indie anymore. I find it boring’ wankery seemed a bit funny smelling. And, yes, I was expecting Kele Okereke’s solo stuff to be just as wankish as the statement. Of course I love Bloc Party and we are not here to question his lyrical talent. The man can pen lyrics that seem timeless and rarely fail to become truly poignant. But this isn’t about talent. This is about the wrong choices. We all make them and The Boxer is filled with them.

Sure, I admit to it, calling the album ‘wankery’ could be considered pushing it. But it’s hard to deny it sounds either like copies of Bloc Party’s more electro numbers like Flux or Mercury or like a bunch of remixes for other BP songs. For a man that has been preaching a change in sound, it sure is like using a tea spoon instead of a normal one. Most of the times, it genuinely feels like Kele is just trying to rewrite Bloc Party tracks and to little success. Everything You Wanted is painful to listen to because of its recycled I Still Remember vibe. Rise has potential for a moment, yet Kele once more attempts to show us his love for electro and fails in writing a song that sounds less of a remix. This would be wrong choice number one.

Second reason why the whole thing sound like a bad idea is how not fun it sounds for a dance album. In his attempt to rewrite Bloc Party, Kele forgets that at least a hint of excitement should be hidden somewhere amidst the electro beats. Tendoroni, bar stupid title, is among the only fun songs but not a long while. While hearing it, sure, the beats get in your bones and does what is was destined to, make you dance. But the second it ends, it proves to be just as forgettable as the majority of the album. One of the most disturbing pieces on The Boxer is On The Lam and its high almost female-like vocals. Ringtone land this is.

Then there’s Kele’s biggest problem. His vocals do not fit the harsh beats. Yes, I’ve heard of contrast and its magic powers. But here it just feels like someone took the melancholic vocals of She’s Hearing Voices and threw them into a washed out compilation of last decade’s beats. He croons and takes out his heart on the floor for us to run over it but wants to do some sort of Spank Rock meets Justice meets SMD. To put it short, Kele is searching for his true self but never finds it.

However, when Kele tries less to shove the ‘Bloc Party days are gone’ PR crap in our faces and more to just focus on the songs, he does take out memorable tracks. Three, to be more precise. Walk Talk, the intro, is the only truly fun dance song. Its only fault is that, being the intro, it gets your hopes high and makes you think that this album will sound as great as the song does. The New Rules is a great breath of fresh air and its soft, gentle feeling reminds you of why you used to love Kele’s craftsmanship in the first place. By far, the best song off the album is Unholy Thoughts. Yes, its name oozes Bloc Party and there are plenty of blatant similarities. However, it feels like a new BP song, a step further, not just the rehashed version of old ones.

But besides these three songs, The Boxer proves to be a sad affair. It sounds dated, like a rave party that used to be fun 20 years ago but now is appreciated only by middle-aged corporate boring twat that reminisces of the days when he was cool. Kele is busy with so many other things(new PR image, 'indie is shit', etc.) besides actually making music that his solo debut is just fails to mean or worth something. Sad times are ahead indeed.