CREDIT: KELE
An album not to be listened to on a laptop - Kele's Trick is a treat.

Rating: 5/5

Four years ago Kele Okereke, lead singer of the popular indie rock band Bloc Party, embarked on his musical journey into the electronic dance scene. Where his initial solo album The Boxer was marked by prevalent Bloc Party influence, leaving it with a resounding choppiness, his latest effort Trick, released October 14 is a highly authentic ambient house experience that bears no hint of his previous band.

Electronic dance music is not usually my forte, but after listening to the opening track “First Impressions” I fell in love with this album. Trick features the silkiest, warmest bass textures I have come across in my lifetime.

They seem to fill the room with an ambience that resonates through you.

While too much bass presence can over power a song, Kele’s higher vocal register cuts through the soft rhythms and provides a crisp higher end to his music.

This luscious range gives all of the songs on Trick a huge sound that is reminiscent of dance clubs and driving through the city in the early hours of morning.

Unfortunately it isn’t all good news for this album.

With such a diverse sound that is carried so heavily by the bass, you need to listen to this album on headphones that are equipped with a deep bass end. Taken from personal experience, if you listen to Trick on dinky little laptop speakers, it’s going to sound completely washed out and soulless.

Play this album through your Dr. Dre headphones or your car speakers and you won’t be disappointed.

The final thing I noticed about this album is that it is largely without hooks. A hook is the part of a song you usually type into Google when you can’t remember the name of a tune.

This has both pros and cons for the album.

On the downside, this is not something I will walk down the street whistling. Tracks seem to fall into each other and the whole album blends together as one song. On the upside, this is a record to which you can easily listen from the beginning to the end in one sitting.

It may not be memorable, but it never fails to captivate every time I play it through. In fact, I find this to be a benefit to the record, however unintended it may be. The vapid aspect of the songs keeps this album novel listen after listen, and I can testify that with over 20 plays on my iTunes in a week – it still makes me get up and dance when I play it.

This record would be an excellent addition to your Halloween party playlist.