Kele
The Singing Winds Pt. 3
KOLA
For many whose musical obsessions began in the late 2000s, hearing the fragile intonations of Kele Okereke’s voice will never not be an emotional experience—like stumbling upon a photo of a friend you’ve since lost contact with. It’s practically panic-attack-inducing to think that it was 20 years ago that Okereke’s band Bloc Party released their debut album, a project which beautifully captured a sense of early-millennium melancholy by utilizing heartfelt indietronica to pour a bucket of ice-cold water over the heads of the London group’s glowstick-waving, new-rave peers.
Kele himself has been putting out solo records since 2010. His first effort, The Boxer, scored a minor hit with “Tenderoni,” yet since then the majority of his solo material has remained fairly low-key, ranging from the eccentric folk of 2017’s Fatherland to the politically minded electro-funk of 2019’s 2042. He’s currently on something of a minimalist streak: The Singing Winds Pt. 3 is a companion piece to his two previous records, the ultra stripped-down The Waves Pt. 1 from 2021 and the more forceful electronica of 2023’s The Flames Pt. 2. These 11 new tracks function as a combination of the two, empoying a guitar- and electronics-heavy palette that lands its introspective blows in a restrained, clear-headed manner.
The resulting release is a mixed bag. Like its predecessors, The Singing Winds feels a touch under-cooked. Okereke’s attempts at lucid minimalism on tracks like “The Arrangement” and “Breathless”—which use a bare-bones setup of crisp guitars, simple synth lines, and kick drums—feel too sparse and demo-like to make much of an impact. He also falls foul of his long-standing tendency to pack too many awkward turns of phrase into a track. The worst culprit here is “Hometown Edge,” which sees him inelegantly wrap potentially evocative tales of nocturnal city thrills over propulsive and emotive synths.
Some tracks catch light, however. “Money Trouble” is the best moment on the album, featuring warm textures, an earworm chorus, and all-to-relatable lyrics that work despite some unwieldy lines. Opener “It Wasn’t Meant to Be” is another highlight. An unusual, texture-centered track that builds layers of pedal-processed guitars atop one another, it echoes its creator’s former band at their inventive best. These moments serve as reminders that Okereke has a ton of ideas in his locker, it’s just a shame that this is another restrained solo effort operating several gears below where it needs to be in order to make any sort of lasting impression.
