From the 2000s to today, the world of music magazines has often resorted to labels like "best new music" or "next best thing" to define the best records of the month or the artists of the moment. In some circumstances, the glowing reviews have proven justified, but in most cases, they have turned out to be anything but excessive, as rarely have the singers awarded these prestigious accolades left a mark, a tangible and evident imprint.
Even the American Kelela wasn't spared by industry magazines. Acclaimed by critics at the time of her debut Take Me Apart, the Ethiopian-born singer-songwriter received equally high praise for her second album Raven, released in February 2023 and published by the legendary Warp Records.
Among the most enthusiastic is undoubtedly Andy Kellman, who on Allmusic described the work as a series of "fluid oscillations between diaphanous ballads, pulsing slow jams, and modern street soul bangers", considering it excellent and giving it a rather high rating.
Attracted by this flood of stars, numbers, and redundant adjectives, I decided to listen to it and try to judge it without preconceptions, avoiding being influenced by opinions captured during numerous online browsings.
The first thing that caught my attention was the cover, where Kelela's face seems to emerge from the water or amniotic fluid, almost heralding a desire for rebirth and change illustrated in some tracks of the extensive tracklist (fifteen tracks for over an hour in total duration).
Moving to the purely musical aspect, I was struck by the number of people who worked on the album, a remarkable lineup of collaborators that includes Mocky, Kaytranada, and LSDXOXO, famous for producing numerous compilations and remixing "Alice" by Lady Gaga.
The experienced producers enlisted for the project endeavored to construct an excellent sound, a sonic blend that draws from multiple genres (ambient, drum and bass, 2-step/garage, soul, r&b, etc...), and somehow succeeds in modernizing them. All this favors soft, sometimes seductive atmospheres that even in the most danceable moments offer an immersive experience.
The ingredients, in short, are enticing, the stakes are high, but the impression is that something isn't quite right and prevents Raven from reaching its goal.
Aside from the opening of "Washed Away", where Kelela sings her desire for renewal accompanied by ambient backdrops of incredible evocative power, the remaining pieces don't leave much of an impact, betraying the expectations created after the first few beautiful minutes.
The main issue, needless to say, is precisely Kelela Mizanekristos, that is to say, the protagonist of the journey (or at least one of the standout figures, considering the squad of musicians, photographers, and directors who assisted her in the visual realization of the LP).
The Washington songwriter certainly has a pleasant, relaxing timbre and above all doesn't indulge in excessive vocalizations, demonstrating a certain concreteness (although there are more complex compositions, like the slow "Let It Go"). Unfortunately, her performance, in the long run, proves to be flat and monochromatic, with the specter of boredom lurking and the index finger ready to skip, especially in the second half of the album.
If we add to everything a certain monothematic nature (love songs with sapphic allusions and the already mentioned cathartic tendencies), combined with some repetition or sense of déjà-vu (the two chords of the title track really feel heard before, not to mention the undeniable references to Janet Jackson and her The Velvet Rope), it will become clear how the structure set up for the occasion is not at all solid, but rather fragile, shaky.
There are some interesting episodes (the jungle of "Happy Ending" and "Missed Call", the mix of ambient and 2-step of "Contact"), but in general, it goes by rather quickly, without leaving much of an impression (and credit goes to the skills of the production team).
At this point, I would say the picture is clear. I do not want to deny Kelela a certain charm, an inclination to captivate the music lover at hand; however, I believe that Raven is yet another example of a dazzling image prevailing over substance, a flaw of too many productions in recent decades, more attentive to form than content.
Maybe in the future, we will have the chance to reconsider. For now, alas, the judgment can only remain suspended.
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