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.

Album of the Week: Alabama Shakes Sound & Color

Vibes, man. If there's one thing the Alabama Shakes sophomore album, Sound & Color, has in spades, it's vibes.

The vibes is the first instrument listeners hear on opener "Sound & Color," as Brittany Howard and company conjure up nighttime sonicscapes and images with minimal instrumentation, making use of strings and almost no guitars to build the scene. It's a thesis statement for the album as a whole, and shows the group isn't ready to fit into any one particular genre. 

Sound & Color's vibe is a bit moody, and a little all over the place – the group ignores the idea of creating a cohesive collection, and instead samples a menagerie of styles: from Stax soul to Zeppelin-rock, Ramones punk and back again, there is little in the way of common denominators throughout, save for Howard's wrecking ball of a voice, which can be as silky or knock-the-walls-down as she wants.

Take the little exaltation Howard makes at the beginning of first single, "Don't Wanna Fight" – I mean, what is that? A shriek? A scream? A squeal? I have no idea what it is, or how she does it, but it's a moment capable of flooring you, and it happens just 38 seconds in to the song.

There's nothing as radio-friendly as their breakout hit "Hold On," and I think it's encouraging the Shakes seemed to have jettisoned any interest in becoming a radio mainstay, and instead are content being discontent with one vibe.

Nodding to early soul and R&B has been a part of the group's sound – and appeal – since their first EP, but this album feels older than anything they've done before. I think it's the focus on, and fluidity of, mood on Sound & Color. There are no wailing guitar solos – rather stretches of experimentation, like the mid-song breakdown on "Dunes," which wouldn't be out of place on a Wilco record. Or check out "Gimme All Your Love," which features some of Howard's most powerful vocals on the album, with a "Since I've Been Loving You" momentum-builder, sans any kind of typical rock or blues solo. When it comes, it's heavy on the reverb, almost like a Black Keys lick, before slamming back into Howard's wail. Again, the song has its own vibe and stays true to that.

I think my favorite Alabama Shakes is torch song Alabama Shakes, and we get a delightful one-two punch of them with "This Feeling" and "Guess Who." At this point, it's entirely possible "This Feeling" is the best song on the album, if for no other reason because it goes down so goddamn sweetly. It's just an acoustic guitar, hand drumming, tinkling keys and Howard's voice doing the rest.

The biggest outlier is "The Greatest," which, if nothing else, shows Howard would make a great singer for a punk band any time she wants. It's a little out of step with the rest of the pieces here, but I can't fault the Shakes too much, because they're experimenting – they're trying to find out what elements of a plethora of genres they can use, and I'm fine with that.

I can't really say I love Sound & Color yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if I do before long. It's not an instant classic, one that you immediately hit replay on when the final track ends, but it has the growth appeal. I've found myself listening to it at least once a day, and I'm picking up new things with each new listen. The Alabama Shakes are in a truly interesting position right now – they achieved a tremendous amount of success off their first effort, and now they have to figure out what that means, and where to go next. They're dabbling with sounds and colors on the album, but even the experiments show promise of greater things to come. As Howard (correctly) notes on closer "Over My Head," "here for now/but not for long."

Until then, they (and I) are happy to just keep vibing.

Sound & Color is out on ATO.