Tricky Mixed Race (Domino)
3/5
By: Liane Escorza
Even though Tricky wrote and produced the entire thing himself, the overall concept of Mixed Race lies in the close collaboration of singers and musicians enlisted in the project. This is a work born from a life spent between cultures; a direct narration about clashes and fusions and about people being touched by their immediate circumstances, traditions and backgrounds. Elemental therefore is the strong aroma of French influences (considering Tricky lives in Paris now), the reliable hip-hop beats, the bluesy acoustic spells, the disco dance extravaganza and the North African pull.
If first impressions were something to rely on in the world of music, starting off with the powerful ‘Every Day’ would be the perfect choice to open up this Pandora’s box of sexualised blues. It lacks of a climatic peak and fades away with tribal vocals like Native American smoke signals, but that’s precisely the beauty of this piece.
Yet Tricky is a versatile character, as implied before, and what follows in ‘Early Bird’ morphs into late-night jazz innuendoes with husky lyrics over soft loopy guitars. ‘Ghetto Stars’ adds rhythm, bass and drama with aplomb and ‘Hakim’ expresses the same feeling in the strength of Hakim Haramouche’s raw singing style yet backed up with a delicate set of exotic strings and female operatic choruses.
If that was not enough to raise anyone’s eyebrows, Tricky pushes boundaries and dares to touch the essential disco dance in ‘Time to Dance’ as well as a sensual lounge dive in ‘Come to Me’ both in ‘oh la la’ French style. But then he returns to his Massive Attack-esque roots in an aggressive act with final track ‘Bristol to London’, heavy on synths and hip hop attitude. It encompasses the overall feeling of the album: Mixed Race is captivating, forward-thinking, direct, and if given time, really quite addictive.
Artists in this article: Tricky
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