Sign-up for updates of new releases, instores, and more!
When Tricky returned from his five-year recording hiatus with the autobiographical Knowle West Boy in 2008, he proffered a hard-hitting set of songs and soundscapes comprised of originals and covers that roared with confrontational brownpunk energy. Two years on, Mixed Race is as direct as its predecessor, but sparser, more spacious, mostly low-key, and very brief (under half an hour). While its sound is still in-your-face, it's remarkable how little murk there is -- despite the layers of backing tracks. Lyrically it's autobiographical, but it's also a gangster album. The sound of guns being cocked and loaded is almost ubiquitous. The signpost is the single, a revisioned take on Echo Minott's '90s dancehall hit "Murder Weapon." The lyric (delivered by Tricky's brother Marlon Thaws), full of references to guns and shoot-em-up street battles, is juxtaposed with Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn Theme" and a sampled blues harmonica riff. Its sound looks to the past for inspiration while looking only at itself as a map reference. "
All Music - Thom Jurek