Raven - Kelela: Review
Kelela
is an American R&B singer who experienced a critical breakout of sorts on her 2017 album Take Me Apart which adapted the idea of a classic R&B romance into a strange electronica-influences power fantasy featuring collaborators like Arca and The xx's Romy. The album was lauded with critical acclaim but Kelela has been relatively quiet in the years since, but re-emerged last year with a line of singles leading up to this album.
Review by Lav:
I was late to get Take Me Apart. In a time where I was crazy for anything Arca, I don't think the electro-R&B love stories really spoke to me but in the years since Kelela slowly, then very quickly became one of my favorite singers in experimental R&B. Fast-forward to now, 7 years later, when Kelela has been releasing a string of absolutely excellent singles that have me majorly hyped for this project. With a set of collaborators from the electronica universe, including but not limited to KAYTRANADA, Shygirl, and Junglepussy, and a collection of singles that adapted drum and bass and hip-hop styles perfectly, I had reason to hope this could be one of the best albums of the year.
Turns out those hopes were rightly placed, Raven is a long but impressive meditation on love and lust that makes great use of both its loudest ad quietest moments. Two of my favorite songs on the record are a pair of singles that I have absolutely adored from the moment I heard them and ones that I've only come to like more and more Happy Ending and Contact. The former gets me with its murmuring fusion of R&B and D&B and the latter pairs a snappy dance beat with absolutely angelic vocal harmonies.
My favorite of the deep cuts is probably Missed Call which grabs me right away with those amazing stuttering drums and only gets better from there. The idea of being late for something romantic because you missed a phone call is certainly a simple one but Kelela absolutely sells it with her vocal performance. There's no such thing as too many good hookup anthems and this is another one. Sorbet is another huge highlight which was surprising because I usually think songs that equate food and sex are terrible. But Kelela has the reservation as a songwriter to never actually say the word "sorbet" and just leave the implication there as you stare at the track title expecting to hear it every line. It makes the songwriting in the track really pop in a way I find totally irresistible.
There are also points on the record that are impressive in a more direct way. with production and instrumentation that I find instantly attention-grabbing. Bruises sounds pretty minimal next to some of the electronic landscapes on Kelela's last album but I find it completely mesmerizing regardless. Once she comes back in on the second half and really starts letting those harmonies soar with the backing vocals I am absolutely hooked. The record is pretty reserved on the production side of things, arranging everything carefully but never necessarily showing its head in a standout way. The exception is on Enough For Love where Kelela and her collaborators go wild and allow the track to wander to some really unexpected places that thrill me throughout.
The whole album starts off with a very promising run including the other two singles Washed Away and On The Run. While I wasn't quite as in love with these songs as the others they're still plenty good tracks that worked for be both within and outside the context of the record. Also in the mix is Let It Go which pulls off this really amazing vulnerability with the help of the girlish backing vocal harmonies contrasting really well with the more cutthroat spoken refrains. The second half of the song in particular is one of my favorite moments on the album.
The middle of the record starts to shift things into a more reserved direction sonically and it's where most of my few complaints about the album come from, but it also isn't without its highlights. Raven lives up to its billing as a title track with some of the most gorgeous sound play on the entire record and a dance breakdown in the second half that feels like a monumental tone shift for things. I also admire Divorce which has some really strong lyrical threads that feel like they imply the pointless struggle of trying to maintain a relationship that is obviously heading for a divorce. It feels more grounded and pessimistic than much of the rest of the album though I admire the risk-taking to present things so minimally.
This one also includes songs like Holier which has a great combination of rumbling bass and what sounds like organ chords but it's in a tough place in the tracklist where it really could have used a bit of a jolt during a run of excessively quiet songs. The closing track does have some gorgeous instrumentation without ever leaving the sonic boundaries the album set for itself though there isn't really much to grab onto, it feels more like a song designed just to be a closing track.
The two songs I can mostly do without on the record are Closure which features an alright guest performance and a D&B meets hip-hop style instrumental that isn't nearly as exciting as some of the singles and Fooley which has a pretty formless composition. Even though the song has a decently exciting breakdown it doesn't do any of the groundwork in order to build up to that moment and everything afterward is just fade out.
Raven is a long record that doesn't quite work to justify every moment of its 60 minutes and 15 tracks, but it comes really close. These songs are sonically versatile but clearly, they all belong together and tell the infectious tale of an impressive singer and songwriter's feelings on sensuality and love. It's an inventive R&B experience but one that pays as much respect to the classics as it does to implement and fuse its style with new sounds. Everything comes together to form a wonderful listening experience and one that seems to justify all the time Kelela spent away following Take Me Apart. If the future of R&B sounds like Kelela's daring vision, the genre is in good hands. 8/10
For more R&B check out my review of SZA's SOS here
