REVIEW: Kelis – Flesh Tone

I don’t really know of Kelis’ back catalogue, other than the perennial “Milkshake”, but let’s not go there. I like R&B on a minor level and try to pick out the immensely good material, for example the work of Amerie and the most recent Beyonce album. Obviously I don’t often pick an R&B album up often, but I have a kind of respect for the genre that when something stands out I really get into it.

Kelis’ Flesh Tone is one of those albums. It’s first single, “Acapella”, is absolutely sublime and has signified her transition into a dance music/electronica phase that seems to be a big obsession of the music industry right now. “Acapella” is the prime signifier of the album’s main direction and gives you an idea of how it sounds. It’s a brilliant single that has set up the album well, with loving lyrics, and a pulsating beat that is hard to ignore.

However, the rest of the album just feels to fall a bit short of the mark. Not to say that I don’t like it, no, the opening “Intro” and songs like “22nd Century” and “4th of July” are all really good, the latter especially, which has a brilliant chorus and piano part. Yet, it’s tracks like “Emancipate” which border on the irritating, undermining the new direction of Kelis and bringing Flesh Tone down in my eyes. Conclusively, I feel the album is strong and probably worth a listen, the few standout tracks are really good, especially Acapella and it’s just as easy as to recommend just that sole track, you were probably expecting big hitters like that throughout anyway.

BONUS: The Futureheads – Acapella (Kelis Cover)

Nathan