It’s always a daunting move going solo, especially when you’ve experienced the popularity Bloc Party have garnered since their inception in 2003, but Kele’s debut album, The Boxer, is bold and brimming with electronic genre blends. Tonight’s gig should have more varying degrees of sweet than a bag full of pick ‘n’ mix.
He opens with the militant Walk Tall and the crowd reaction is immediate as the gritty pitch-bent bass drops and grinds up and down. The younger members of the audience surge to the front of Digital’s stage, the older candidates are content to hang back and appreciate from afar. Kele gets his breath before beginning the next track On the Lam uttering “Right, let’s get this party started.” This tune maintains the self-consciousness that was so prevalent in his songwriting for Bloc Party.
“There’s a voice in my head that I probably should have trusted from the start, I’ve finally flipped out and I’m hiring a detective, to find out where I’ve been.” So in contrast to the confident connotations of The Boxer title, there’s still an existential angst evident in Kele. But rather than spill over into paranoia, the elliptical basslines in On the Lam make it a massive techno-popper which proves a winner with every club kid here tonight. After Unholy Thoughts and a brief Bez-esque stint with the maracas, Kele stops to introduce his new band buddies.
Refreshingly though, he is not trying to eschew his past, joking “I used to be in another band” and then he commences with a Bloc Party mash-up involving remixes of Blue Light, The Prayer and One More Chance – this mini-mix intermission delights everyone including the frontman himself.
During the pre-set signing at Rounder Records Kele looked like he was performing, not that he wasn’t genuinely smiling at his fans asking how they were, but he was making a conscious effort to appear upbeat. It’s now up on that stage, when he looks truly comfortable, happy and completely in his element. He’s excited to be here and as every new track drops his face alights with glee at the prospect of doing another one.
The synth lead Tenderoni demonstrates the rave potential most of his tracks have and collaborating with XXXChange producer Alex Epton has worked wonders for Kele’s deeper exploration into dance music. Rise wins applause before he ends with Bloc Party’s Flux, which is a poignant tune to sign off with as it was this single that heralded the band’s members veering off in different musical dimensions and their resulting sabbatical. The Boxer is a strong solo debut and Kele K.O.s the crowd with his live set, leaving Brighton’s pebbled shores for the sunny fields of Glastonbury.
Kele
Digital
Thurs 24th June
Words by Zac Colbert
