There is something unmistakably cathartic about the opening of Kelela’s “New Avatar”. The project finds its roots in the indie rock music she listened to growing up–The Fiery Furnaces, Metric, Buke & Gase. In an interview with Vogue, she mentions creating a playlist called “White Bag” in preparation for the album, a process she described as “getting into her white bag” so that she could make the genre–defiant music we hear on New Avatar. “White Bag” in this instance becomes an ironic reference to the racial markers that set genres like rock apart from others. In another interview with NME, Kelela describes the feeling of dissonance she had to endure in order to enjoy indie rock music without feeling othered, especially as a young black woman. To her it was less about the origins of the music itself and more about “who was made to feel welcome, who was being centred, who was made to feel outside of.”
Thus, “Idea 1” plays like the beginning sequence of a heroine’s quest for self-determination. The atmospheric shoegaze instrumental builds anticipation on the softest of guitars while Kelela delicately rips through the barriers her younger self must have encountered when she fell in love with indie rock music all those years ago. Even as she experiments with the various elements of “guitar music” and reconstructs them in her image, Kelela remains true to the RnB and electronic dance music influences that have gained her a cult following. “Point Blank” pulses with that same distinct heat signature, matching the angsty heartbreak themes that are predominant throughout the record. “Why’s your love so bleak?” she sings, likening their relationship to a gun pointed in her direction. “Goin Down” cuts through this same vein, this time with stirring guitars that are the perfect medium for expressing her dissatisfaction. Foushee and Pink Pantheress are welcome additions on the more dance heavy tracks on the project; Foushee lends a sultry weight to the gossamer bones of “New Life Forms” while Pink Pantheress gives the sensual two step pulse of the “The Bridge” a touch of her coquettish charm.
The boundaries between these genres are putty in Kelela’s hands, creating a plethora of portals and in-between realms. She is a world builder, and the dreamy sonic landscape of “New Avatar” is her most dynamic yet. It is at times dark and stormy, like the thunderous undertones of “Retaliation Lullaby”, and at other times it thrums with the raw, magnetic energy of desire. Her expansive vocals are the foundation, while Oscar Scheller’s production fleshes out the soundscape according to her creative whims. In response to Kelela’s deft maneuvering, “New Avatar” spirals boundlessly out of itself, a universe in its own right.
