Album of the Week: Kelela Hallucinogen

For many years, albums were almost always 40 minutes long. This was the amount of time a vinyl album could hold, and unless an artist wanted to get really adventurous (and expensive) and go with a double LP, they had to pare down their songs to fit that time frame.

Think about that for a minute. That means most of the defining records from people like Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and countless others changed music forever in 40 minutes or less. That just boggles the mind.

New mediums allowed for more time, and thus more music, culminating in CDs, which provide 80 minutes for musicians to experiment with. Some artists use that time to the max (think Kendrick Lamar's brilliant but exhausting To Pimp A Butterfly), but even an average album still clocks in at around an hour.

I've always been a "leave them wanting more" guy, so while I appreciate the efforts many musicians put into making use of all the time they have, many of the albums that have hit me hardest in recent years go for brevity. Take Japandroid's Celebration Rock, easily the best rock album of the century, which clocks in at just 35 minutes.

We can now added Kelela's new EP, Hallucinogen, to the list of heavy hitters who can knock you out with just a few well timed hits. Hallucinogen is a mere six songs and clocks in at around 37 minutes. And yet, she doesn't waste a second or a sound in creating a gorgeous sonic landscape in which to get lost.

The theme of Hallucinogen is a kind of Memento'd relationship – first song "A Message" is the end of a relationship, and she works her way back to the start from there, ending with the gorgeous "The High."

Kelela really digs into those brutal thoughts that envelop you after losing someone:

I won't shed a tear

Cause waterworks are easy

Left some things behind

Don't need your help

And all I know is all I've got

Is it hard to face

All we lost?

She beautifully gives voice to all the self-doubt, bitterness and grief that the loss of a partner can create, and does so in a completely honest way.

"The High" is glitchy sex anthem, as ominous as it is intoxicating (check out lines like, "My lips are creeping up your neck/You shiver and try to pull back/And forth and back and forth with it") and indicative of a relationship that had a shelf-life built in. 

Her insightful songwriting throughout is augmented by breathy-vocal delivery that belies her range when she fully cuts loose. Her words come to you with a breathless muffle, like she's singing to you with her face in a pillow, and it carries with it an immediate intimacy. But you can also hear her sly smile, especially on standout track "Rewind."

The soundscape is all icy synths and 808s – the kind of stuff Drake lives in and Tink skates through – and Kelela is perfectly at home there. "A Message" has one of my favorite beats of the year, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear Drake hopping on a remix of it at some point. It's perfect headphone music, and Kelela subtly bends all the music to her will.

Kelela is just getting started (this is only her second release) and by taking a classic approach to constructing an album, she proves has greatness ahead. Give her your attention – you won't regret it.

Hallucinogen is out on Cherry Coffee/Warp.

Also recommended this week:

The Decembrists lovely EP, Florasongs.

The first part of Game's Documentary 2 release.