Resurrecting his sound: Britain’s Tricky returning to form

by Josh Edgar

We’ve seen this all before: an artist releases a breakout first album, gets panned for trying to repeat the winning formula on the follow-up, fails time after time for years in shallow attempts to “branch out,” all the while watching a fan base erode and the press turn their backs.

Given this, it isn’t surprising that Tricky’s new record False Idols, out May 28th on !K7 Records imprint of the same name, is being billed as a “return to form.” Born Adrian Thaws, the British musician has gone as far as to repent for his work since landmark debut Maxinquaye, saying he was “trying to do something to please other people” and that False Idols, while aimed at people who loved his debut, is musically, a better album.

And from the opening clicks and booms of the first track “Somebody’s Sins,” an almost-Patti Smith cover, it’s clear that Thaws is making good on at least some of his promises. For one, any of the adjectives you’d use to describe the sound on Maxinquaye — bleak, eerie, ominous, down-tempo — all apply to the songs on False Idols. The whispery rapping, soulful female vocalists and crafty sampling are back, and the clean, airy production is even reminiscent of the early days. One might even be inclined to say this record falls under the category of trip-hop, a genre Thaws helped to create then spent subsequent decades trying to shake association with.

However, this isn’t about a bunch of re-hashed studio tricks. Thaws recruits Peter Silberman of The Antlers for vocals on the brooding and angular “Parenthesis,” and “We Don’t Die” sounds like it could be an XX song. One of the virtues of this record is that Thaws succeeds in experimenting while keeping with the familiar aesthetics that made his music great in the first place.

For the nearly two decades since his first record, Thaws failed in trying to evolve his carefully crafted sound in a captivating way. Finally, on False Idols, it looks like he may be finding inspired ways to breathe new life into his music.

Release date: May 28, 2013