Three years on from her previous, solid efforts, Kelela returns with New Avatar. Raven didn’t linger on the mind all that long but it’s an enjoyable experience all the same. New Avatar is too and for Kelela that’s a stretch better than most of her peers. This is a chance for Kelela to double down on what listeners had gotten used to. To hear her drift far from that sound is not just a treat because it opens the door to new genre offerings but it suits Kelela better. New Avatar is a little slower, a tad softer, but it’s got that heartfelt sense to it that relies on the shoegaze and grunge influences. They’re heard from the first minute of opening track Idea 1 and Kelela doesn’t look back. New Avatar is a confident and competent piece of work from an artist whose risk-taking, with all those new sub-genres at play, comes together magnificently. It’ll revive your hopes for this year being a strong one for daring, new albums.
New Avatar has a lot to love. It comes with this slightly nostalgic feeling. There’s a slight tinge of the late 1990s to Point Blank with its piercing, electronic-like sounds. Not in pulling from a genre or certain album, but just the overall feeling. From the album cover to the production, it feels deeply submerged in the culture of 30 years ago. Chrome and sci-fi-tinged is the only way to describe it. New Avatar features such a thrilling throwback-like feeling while feeling inherently modern. This is a brilliant step in a new direction for Kelela. There’s an incredibly relaxed feeling to Goin Down and Outta Time. Kelela relies on the sharp instrumental ability, that slightly off-kilter feeling that comes with smashing a multitude of genres together. It comes off brilliantly; there’s no denying that. Kelela questions what we’re doing to ourselves with actions that feel inconsequential at the time but are still driven by a passion that’ll come back to haunt us. Deeply moved experiences on every song, and it’s a massive step up from Raven as a result.
Songs like Crystalize are such wonderful adaptations of what makes the devolution of electronic sleekness into alternative genre stylings work. Kelela’s voice is profiled properly. We’re given a chance to hear how layering her vocals with a delicate and softer instrumental scope works. But forget all that for a second. What prevails across New Avatar is, despite all these depths and thrills, it’s a wonderfully easy and charmed listen. An album worth taking with you on the first coffee of the day. It’s a relaxed but formidable piece of work. Don’t Piss Me Off and New Life Forms, for all their promise of rage and setting the world to rights with a whole new generation of beings, play with softer instrumental beats and an experience which verges on easy listening. It doesn’t prevent the excellent lyrical work from Kelela from coming through, it just makes it a little softer and quieter.
These are the muffled sounds of being stood near to the club rather than thrown into the action. It’s a nice place to stand and with Kelela guiding us through The Bridge so tremendously, that tone is shaped well. New Avatar sets a phenomenal tone and Kelela rarely falters when presenting it. Slightly soft, ethereal experiences that are such a contrast to what came before. All the doubts and dramas of the world are thrown together on final song, If We Meet Again. An inspired final moment for New Avatar, a song that ties all those fears and furies heard previously together. Instrumentally exceptional, with a tense and understandable message flowing the whole way through. It all comes together brilliantly for Kelela on New Avatar.
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