I’m not gonna soft-pedal this, Little Mac. You’ve put up a valiant fight, but…well, after knocking you against the ropes the one-two punch of the whole “mixtape-followed-by-EP” routine, it seems that the ever-adventurous, Etheopian-American singer/songwriter known professionally as Kelela is through TOYING with you and is pretty much ready to roll up her sleeve to deliver the fucking KNOCKOUT punch.
The fatal blow will land on October 6, when Warp records releases her debut full-length album Take Me Apart. Continuing her earlier work’s obsession with welding futuristic, avant-garde electronics onto classic-sounding R&B melodies and soul-bearing lyrics exploring the nature and sheer power of femininity, the new album sees Kelela eagerly pummeling and deconstructing the many recent artistic collaborations that have helped shape her aesthetic, only to “build them back up into pieces of a cohesive whole” to reflect her own fiercely singular vision of what avant-pop music should be. “It’s this tapestry I’ve knitted together that attracts different types of listeners and challenges them at the same time,” she says, “often within the same song. That’s what I want to bring to my entire catalogue.”
To give you a hint of the furiously single-minded ASS KICKING that’s headed your way (isn’t that nice of her???), Kelela has also released a new video for the album’s lead single “LMK.” It was directed by “longtime Björk collaborator Andrew Thomas Huang” and presents a sensual, surreal, retro-futuristic tableau that finds a multiplicity of Kelelas “moving through hazy, club-like environments with authority and a take-no-prisoners attitude.” In Huang’s words, “The message of this video is empowerment: it’s for the girls, for anyone whose heart has been trampled on and deserves to go out and feel good about themselves. It’s a call to action, demanding to be taken and to be quick about it.”
If you’re ready to surrender, you can pre-order Take Me Apart now and check out the clip and full album tracklisting down below. Trust me, she’s gonna take your ass down no matter what, so it’d probably be best to just let go and let this happen.
Take Me Apart tracklisting:
01. Frontline
02. Waitin
03. Take Me Apart
04. Enough
05. Jupiter
06. Better
07. LMK
08. Truth Or Dare
09. S.O.S.
10. Blue Light
11. Onanon
12. Turn To Dust
13. Bluff
14. Altadena
More about: Kelela
