Kelela crafts a sultry summer classic with new avatar

Like its title, the singer invites the listener to put on a different skin suit, or more accurately, to peel off the old one and give in to the transformative experience. To sum up her oeuvre as spiritual alternative R&B would be insultingly reductive, yet her records never quite feel like they belong to the corporeal world.

Between her airy vocal runs, siren-like reverberated vibratos and distorted shoegaze guitar riffs, new avatar’s tracks feel suspended in time, reminiscent in this aspect of Kelela’s previous albums; the feeling of those dazed split seconds of a night out are certainly captured here as well, the all-at-once confusing, passionate contemplations omnipresent. Unlike Take Me Apart and Raven, though, Kelela’s latest release comes to life with a particular rock energy. In addition to its usual electronic and R&B components, the singer-songwriter takes us back to her early career days, a compelling figure amongst the 2010’s indie rock scene.

She even invites songwriter A.K. Paul, eminently prolific during that era, on “outta time”, a Prince-inspired reckoning with the end of a relationship. Far from withdrawing inside of her inner world, the singer explores the tensions of a couple that are unable to merge their singular differences, as PinkPantheress-assisted “the bridge” similarly deplores. In the track's ambient drum and bass, the desire to move towards someone is overpowering, instinctual, yet reaching for that connection proves impossible. Although the two artists’ distinct styles intertwine beautifully, the gulf between two people widens – a metaphor for an industry that purposely misrepresents and tears apart Black artists.

New avatar takes us on a journey through a breakup, admitting part in the blame for its failure. This theme resonates not just on a private level, but a universal one: the inability to comprehend the other’s psyche feels relevant at a time when individualism has usurped community and making your voice heard seems hopeless. In her blend of R&B, jersey bounce, ambient, shoegaze and post-rock (to cite a few), we follow Kelela’s story, from the initial separation to the second phase.

Marked by “retaliation lullaby”, a sweet ballad that twists into a poisonous tale of jealousy and resentment, the latter part of the album moves from melancholy to the active rage it takes to pick yourself up and move on. It’s in full force on “if we meet again”, the record’s chorus-backed conclusion, one that reaches for other sources of companionship, accepting the loss but refusing to give up on the endless forms of human connection.