KELE OKEREKE - PUNCHING ABOVE HIS WIEGHT
Published: Music Australia Guide #78, July 2010.
With Bloc Party on indefinite hiatus, the debut solo record from frontman Kele Okereke reveals an artist in the throes of change. He tells MAG’s Dan Rule how The Boxer represented a chance to explore the world of electronica, and himself.
Talking with Kele Okereke is a little like walking on eggshells. One wrong move and the floor falls out from under you, awkward silence pervading. Tap into a vein of interest, however, and the 28-year-old will unload, streams of garrulous explanations, digressions and descriptors ricocheting every which way.
Luckily, today, there is far more of the latter. “I’ve always enjoyed dancing,” he states plainly, if not suddenly. “It’s something that I think is important, dancing, and that’s not necessarily dancing to house or techno or any of the more serious kinds of dance music,” he launches back in, talking at a million miles an hour.
“I just think going and dancing is something is something one should do as often as possible, because it’s something that’s good for you. It clears out the mind and it’s a good way to relax,” he pauses for a breath. “In this day and age it’s almost like a meditative exercise. I think it’s an important thing that people should do socially.”
In his own roundabout way, Okereke – who is chatting from New York, where he is doing press for his brand new solo record The Boxer – is justifying his renewed engagement with electronica, a quality strewn throughout The Boxer’s clutch of driving, dance-orientated rhythms and cut-and-paste aesthetics. Indeed, while Bloc Party’s thee records (breakout 2005 debut Silent Alarm, 2007’s A Weekend in the City and 2008’s more deconstructive Intimacy) have always kept electronics within earshot, Okereke’s solo venture embraces it with open arms.
“The appeal of electronic music to me is that idea that you can create anything and you’re only limited by the power of your imagination,” he urges. “It’s like there’s a million options out there.”
Recorded in London with Glaswegian production prodigy Hudson Mohawke and in New York with Spank Rock affiliate XXXchange, The Boxer ripples with exploratory flare. Where opener Walk Tall detonates searing drones over gunshot kicks, cuts like On the Lam and Tenderoni has Okereke crooning over buried house and techno inflections, while Unholy Thoughts sees a wiry, vintage Bloc Party guitar line expand into a sea of opaque, synthetic atmospheres. It’s a trip to say the least.
“There’s that idea that rock music has a certain authenticity in conveying emotion and that’s totally valid – the power of a great, visceral rock show is that it’s very immediate – but I think there are other things you can do and there are other ways you can convey ideas through music.”
“I’ve never wanted my expression to be limited,” he continues. “It’s something I’ve learned not to be frightened of.”
Okereke, however, sees the record as more of an artistic progression than a dramatic reinvention. “I feel that making Intimacy definitely paved that way for making The Boxer,” he says. “Half that record, we recorded in a really similar way, with just me and the producer editing the band’s takes together rather than us all being in a room and playing as a band.”
“So having attempted that with Intimacy, I kind of felt that with The Boxer the process was very similar. It was just me and a producer in a room, editing stuff together. So it didn’t feel that radically different.”
With Bloc Party on an indefinite break, it was more challenge of going it alone that buoyed Okereke. “Making this thing by myself was really quite rejuvenating and quite inspiring to me,” he offers.
“I didn’t know if it was going to be possible, you know. I’d never made a record by myself, I didn’t I was going to be able to do it. And there were times when it was difficult, of course, and I kept on going and I learned a lot about myself during the process.”
While many have suggested that the record’s title – and the fact that Okereke started training in kickboxing earlier in the year – was a response to an alleged racist assault by members of John Lydon’s (aka Johnny Rotten) entourage while backstage in Barcelona, Okereke refutes the suggestion, in a manner of speaking at least.
“I think the image of The Boxer has came from the idea that you have to keep going and no matter what life throws at you, you have to keep your head up high and you have to be strong,” he says.
“I think that a lot of our previous stuff as Bloc Party was more about regretting the past, where this record is about looking to the future,” he pauses. “It really feels like an optimistic record to me.”
The Boxer is out now via Wichita/Shock
Visit: iamkele.com
