Does the title of Tricky’s eleventh album – which takes his birth name – suggest a more personal direction? According to the Bristol maverick, it’s more a cheeky statement regarding how difficult his genre-leaping music is to pin down.
“Calling it Adrian Thaws is saying ‘you don’t really know me’,” he explains. “So many times people have tried to put a finger on me and every album I go to a different place.”
In this case, that place is a club album, heavily influenced by hip hop and his experiences growing up in nightclubs and parties. Not that a Tricky album would ever be that simple: as you listen you will pick up plenty of other influences – jazz, blues and reggae all feature – along with an eclectic bunch of collaborators, from Mykki Blanco to Tirzah, who guests on the fantastic cover of Janet Kay’s Silly Games. There are also political elements, such as My Palestine Girl, which imagines the heartache involved with falling in love with someone in Gaza.
Have a listen using the player below and let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
