Kelis - Food

Kelis
Food
18 April 2014
Ninja Tune

4 stars out of 5

 

Kelis has always found more success in the UK and Europe than she has in her native USA. Most likely this is due to the fact that she has been perceived by American audiences as, well, a little weird. Clearly she feels comfortable with this description as she’s enlisted TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek to produce her sixth LP, Food. As far as Sitek goes, the music on Food isn’t all that weird—Kelis brings all the weird herself with her recurring theme, food.

Kelis’s brand of R&B would be more at home in 1974 than 2014, though nothing about her music feels contrived as “retro.” Tracks like “Hooch” and “Cobbler” are truly inventive and forward-looking, based solidly in a tradition that encourages innovation. The blues guitar and Southern flavour of “Friday Fish Fry” melds nicely with its urban R&B horn section, while “Rumble” and “Dreamer” reach right out of the mid-‘60s in order to give you a good slap.

Food represents the strongest album of Kelis’s career. Her lyrical theme of om nom nom doesn’t overtake the record or turn it into a concept piece; rather, it’s a center to which all digressions in life must return on a regular basis. You might find yourself returning to listen to Food on a regular basis as well, as it’s got all the ingredients of a classic.

reviewed by Richard Krueger