This new eponymous album from the peripatetic Tricky – aka Adrian Thaws – finds the artist partly sloughing off the pseudonym that he’s sheltered behind since joining Massive Attack for ‘Blue Lines’ and confronting his identity head on.
The result of such self-analysis is a typically diverse set of collaborations and hip-house-dub styles that serve to expose the contradictions and personal conflicts in his life.
Anger simmers close to the surface on ‘Why Don't You’ and ‘Gangster Chronicles’, while the ostensibly political (Blue Daisy-featuring) ‘My Palestinian Girl’ and the cover of ‘Silly Games’ showcase a rare tenderness.
Restless, furiously inventive and resolutely original, Tricky shows no signs of thawing just yet.
7/10
Words: Mat Smith
– – –
– – –
Buy Clash Magazine
Get Clash on your mobile, for free: iPhone / Android
Listen to ‘Adrian Thaws’ in full via Deezer…
