CD: Kelis - Food | reviews, news & interviews
CD: Kelis - Food
CD: Kelis - Food
Full-flavoured sixth album from one of pop's most intriguing women
It’s hard not to admire Kelis Rogers’ spirited and unpredictable approach to the music business. She’s been through multiple incarnations, approaching them with real zest, the spiritual successor to Nena Cherry, albeit more prolific and emanating a very American hip hop raunch.
Food was created with David Sitek of TV on the Radio and was, apparently, made with casual contributions from his band, between endless tasty meals. The best of it has the brassy psychedelic soul euphoria of the fantastic “Second Song” from TV on the Radio’s last album. All the eating seems to have actually changed Kelis’s voice. Gone is any shrill edge, replaced by a smoothness that recalls Smokey Robinson and classic male R&B.
Stylistically, Kelis is as untamed as ever. While the core sound may be an imaginative update of bluesy Memphis soul, redolent of the MGs, there are forays into other regions. “Change” sonically reimagines The Mamas and the Papas in the age of Coldplay, “Floyd” is a spacey ballad, a meeting of Fleetwood Mac and Supertramp, “Bless the Telephone” is a nugget of Sixties West Coast strummery, and the closing “Dreamer” floats about like an offcut from Screamadlica fronted by the band’s backing singer Denise Johnson rather than frontman Bobby Gillespie.
Sonically, then, Food more than holds its own. If the songs themselves were consistently of the same calibre it would be a great rather than a good album.
Overleaf: Watch the video for "Rumble"
rating
Share this article
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
Add comment