Kele Okereke - Heartbreaker

Kele Okereke will, of course, forever be referred to as ‘that dude from Bloc Party’. And not unfairly, considering the classic status of the band, but it does make listening to this latest EP all the more frustrating. Expanding upon the electro-pop of his solo work, ‘Heartbreaker’ delves deeper into the shadowy world of club music. And by entirely removing his signature vocals, it’s completely devoid of character and sounds like it could’ve come from any nameless house producer circa ten years ago.

Jumping aboard the overly nostalgia-dependent house bandwagon, Kele’s latest project fails to provide much besides easy DJ-mix fodder. When standing up to similar giants of the year, ‘Heartbreaker’ is dwarfed by releases by other artists willing to take a risk. Each of the songs blend together in a way a sloppy Ministry of Sound compilation might, working perfectly fine as boilerplate club music, but failing to innovate in any conceivable fashion.

The sole real break from the monotony comes in the form of the discordant tones found on ‘God Has a Way’, which only breaks up the pace by plummeting the quality to unbearable levels. Each track sounds like a slight variation from the last, which is in stark contrast to the variety filled house juggernaut of the year, Disclosure’s ‘Settle’. That one of the biggest names in 2000s indie is involved with something so generic is incredibly disappointing. It’s a low-key release that probably wouldn’t have been put out if it weren’t for the star power of its creator - but alas, ‘Heartbreaker’ exists, as much as it really shouldn’t.