Prince. Madonna. Bono. Kele?

Dropping your surname is a pretty traditional ploy for rock star status, and that’s something Kele Okereke probably understands. The Bloc Party frontman is busting out with a new disc that takes a few elements of his old band, adds some electronic fanfare, and gets up close and personal. Along with the tradition of single-namers comes the custom of changing one’s direction when transitioning from band to solo act. InYourSpeakers reported some troubling Bloc Party news earlier this year, and it became clear that differing ‘tudes were pushing the band members down diverging paths; Kele’s solo project is a jump from guitar-driven Brit rock to dance floor crooning. The Boxer comprises ten tracks of beat-driven confessionals; some are snoozers, some are nightclub-style winners, and a couple have the potential to cause serious Lump In Throat Syndrome.

There are of course some Bloc Party songs that have the same vibe as The Boxer— dark, textured, affecting—but overall the route Kele takes is, if not unconventional, at least different than the norm. The album opens with a military style call-and-response on “Walk Tall” that’s fractured with handclaps, Euro techno bass, and a falsetto that really suits Kele, though the electronic route initially doesn’t agree with him. The vocal experimentation continues with “On The Lam,” where his voice is digitally altered to sound much higher than his normal tenor. The effect is half creepy, half chintzy, and it raises the question some might have asked from the beginning; namely, was it really a good idea for this guy to trade in a live band for drum machines?

But first single “Tenderoni” alleviates this doubt. Does anyone remember that old episode of The Real World/Road Rules Challenge when Beth calls her boy toy Nehemiah “my tenderoni”? Well, if you ignore that precious memory, “Tenderoni” is a great single. The synths sound harmonic and elastic and the beat is big enough to satisfy the most finicky of clubgoers. Fans of Bloc Party who were outraged at the split will be happy to hear sound-a-likes “The Other Side” and “Unholy Thoughts.” “The Other Side” tries to combine Bloc Party’s standard sprightly guitars with a shuffling dubstep beat, but the song is largely hook-less. “Unholy Thoughts” is better executed with a restless guitar, 4/4 drums, and a catchy vocal line. “No more cocaine/You’re getting sloppy,” Kele admonishes, later intoning, “The mind is powerful/But it will not work, it will not work.” There isn’t a lot of true joy to be found in this album. At times, the mood on The Boxer is paranoid, regretful, and genuinely melancholic.

“Everything You Wanted” combines a polished, pounding background with some seriously heart-wrenching vocals. “I could have given you everything you wanted, everything you needed,” Kele sings over and over—three guesses as to who the ‘you’ could be. Everything on this song builds to a tragic culmination—piano strikes, an almost dance-y beat, strained vocals—only to be accented further by the hushed, boy-girl harps of “New Rules.” “I used to want to rule the world/But now I just get by,” sings Kele as a phone operator’s please hang up and try again serves as punctuation, signaling some sort of missed connection. “Rise” and “All The Things I Couldn’t Say” also combine electronica, big chorus-style background vocals, and heavy emotions.

So it’s not until the second half of the album that Kele truly comes into his own as an electro artist. The best moments happen when the production doesn’t get carried away, when the beat balances with the words, and when Kele stays confident. This isn’t Bloc Party, and that’s on purpose. Comparisons are hard to make here, but you could say that these are the confessions and feelings that might have never made it onto a Bloc Party album. The Boxer has an atmosphere that is at once depressed, uplifted, suspicious, and liberated, and it evokes the complex situation that seems to have produced the album. Some fans will probably still clamor for the band to reunite, but that’s not to say that a second album from Kele wouldn’t be welcome. We’ll just have to see what happens, and hopefully the curiosity won’t kill us.

Track List:
1. Walk Tall
2. On The Lam
3. Tenderoni
4. The Other Side
5. Everything You Wanted
6. New Rules
7. Unholy Thoughts
8. Rise
9. All The Things I Could Never Say
10. Yesterday’s Gone