A Letter to Kele Okereke

Dear Kele,

How are you? I hope all is well. Now, I understand that you are going solo. I understand that “Kele” is not Bloc Party, but I still don’t know what to do here. I’ve been with you since the start with the Bloc Party EP, welcomed your crunchy guitars in Silent Alarm, felt that incredible emotional connection in A Weekend in the City, and I even stuck by you through Intimacy when fans said that Bloc Party had moved in a new direction (and not necessarily in the best of ways).

Kele, I'm not totally against the more electronic direction. I think it's important for you to do it, but I still don’t know exactly what to think with The Boxer. And although I understand that this is a solo album and has absolutely NOTHING to do with Bloc Party (and I am glad that you are is experimenting with your own sound), I can’t help but have certain Bloc Party-esque expectations.

In a way at the end of the day I’m glad that you got this out of your system. I guess I’ve been expecting this, Kele. You’ve been acting out for a while now. Somehow you went from guitar frontman to king of the dance floor. I saw the signs, but I let them slide because at the time the crunchy guitar rifts and the electronic elements worked. In almost every interview I’ve read you always talk about how you love dance music and how you wanted to release a dance album. (That and that “I never listen to indie anymore, I find it boring.” Pot. Kettle. Black. But we can save that for another time).

From the opening 10 seconds of “Walk Tall
” I realized that we needed to sit down and talk. It was a cry for help from the start. I’m listening to the lyrics, Kele, and I understand. “Rule number three, forget where you've been,/ Cut your ties to the past and wave them goodbye.” But maybe that’s not the best road to go down, friend. And either way, let’s face it: you’ll never fully be able to separate yourself from Bloc Party.

My favorite thing about you has always been your voice, Kele, and what do you do? In “On the Lam” you change the pitch of your voice (your beautiful voice!) into something unrecognizable and processed. The emotion feels gone. Stick to what you know, and we both know what an amazing voice you have. Like in “Tenderoni” ou really showcased your vocals, but I liked the music better when Bodyrox did it.


I feel like “New Rules” had promise, but you should have kept it simple. On one hand the plucked strings are beautiful, but the repeating sample of a robotic telephone operator repeating the phrase “please hang up and try again” ruined it for me. “Rise” could have been a standout track as well. The song used dance beats without being cliché, and then, out of nowhere, the gem is ruined by female vocals chanting “I’m taking over.” Kele, you could have handled those vocals!

As for “All The Things I Could Never Say
” - well I honestly don’t know what to think about it. The song has some beautiful layering, but I don’t know how to feel about the female vocals. Maybe it’ll grow on me.

Kele, I’m sorry for being so negative. I hope you aren’t mad at me and we’re still good friends. All these comments aren’t meant to be harsh or mean that I hate the album. I actually enjoyed “On The Other Side.” It was a win win really – I still got a forceful guitar rift (even if it is sampled) and you got to make a dance track with exotic percussion like claves and agogo mixed with a rumbling synth bass. “Yesterday's Gone
” is another track that meets me somewhere halfway with the synth melody and the beat shifting to an R&B pattern. To be honest, I think it would have fit perfectly on Intimacy.

I also really thought you did a great job with “Unholy Thoughts.” The brooding track made me think of “Hunting for Witches,” one of my favorites. And then I also really enjoyed “Everything You Wanted,” probably because it also sounded similar to Bloc Party. This could even be the second single! I’m digging the kiddie piano, that’s for sure, and the chorus is simple but perfect. “Everything You Wanted” really brings Boxer's best elements together all at once: mournful lyrics, a massive chorus, and real feelings that work with the electronic background.

I can tell you had fun with The Boxer, Kele, that’s for sure. It seems like you were able to do all of the things stylistically that you were trying to fit into the last Bloc Party album. But at the same time each song was such a hodgepodge mish-mash of styles and influences. It feels like you were trying to cram way too many (electronic) genres into one record. You had a rave with your computer, sampling synthesized backing yelps, annoying samples of automated phone messages, and every other shiny plaything in the toybox. But can we go back to Bloc Party now?

Hopefully by getting the chance to finally make the dance album that you always wanted you will be able to create a more focused Bloc Party album in the future. I know that I would sincerely appreciate it.

Forever Yours,
Morgan