For many of us, Kele Okereke‘s striking voice transports us back to some of our most formative years; as the frontman of cult electric indie-rock band Bloc Party, Okereke has captured the world’s attention for over a decade, setting dancefloors alight, filling arenas, and spreading lyrical passages that continue to be sung back with muscle memory familiarity.
‘Fatherland’ marks the British visionary’s third solo LP, unveiling a raw new facet of his artistry. Trading stadium sounds for hushed acoustics, folk sensibilities and stirring soul atmospherics, the record sees Kele document a new chapter of his personal life, exploring cultural heritage, evolving relationships, and his new role as a father.
Later this year, things will come full circle when Bloc Party embark on their ‘Silent Alarm’ tour across Europe, but first, Australia gets to experience Kele at his core when he hits our shores solo to play three intimate East Coast shows. Ahead of his visit, he chatted to us about reflecting on earlier Bloc Party material, shifting interpretation within modern media, and writing his most stripped-back album to date.
Best Before: Hi, Kele! How are you going?
Kele Okereke: Hey, Mina! How are you doing?
I’m good, thanks! Are you just home at the moment?
Yeah — it’s nine o’clock in the evening here. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but it’s been a crazy snow day in London. Luckily, I’m indoors and away from all the drama.
I have! Glad you’re tucked away from it all!
Yes — it’s been crazy!
Good to hear that you’re at least getting some down time. Your tour kicked off last October. How has the audience’s response been to that live material?
It’s been really good. Firstly, it’s a very different way of performing for me, because I’m going out and playing with just an acoustic guitar and my voice. I’ve never really ever done that as a performer before, so it’s been a different way of playing, and a very different live performance energy. But, that said, the crowds that I have been playing have been very receptive and very patient. I feel like, when I’ve performed, I could feel that everyone has been listening very intently to what it is that I’m doing and saying. It’s nice to have that feeling.
“It would be very sad if I ever made a record that I thought was perfect — I think it would mean that I wouldn’t be motivated to make more music.”
When you were writing for Bloc Party, during your early years as a band, you focused on channeling arena energy during the creation process. Did you envision that performance aspect when you were writing ‘Fatherland’?
I wasn’t thinking too much about it, or how the songs were going to be performed, because I knew that the way I was writing the music, with just my voice and guitar and piano, that these songs worked in a completely different fashion. I guess, over the years of Bloc Party, as we’ve been relying more on studio techniques, there was an element of, “Is this actually going to work when we perform it live?” But I knew that it would work for me, because that’s the way the songs were written — in a very stripped-back fashion.
And a lot of them started out as lullabies for your daughter Savannah, right?
Yeah — there was an element of that. Making the music, I think in a loose way, the plan was always for the songs to have that kind of sing-song gentle quality — songs that I could sing to her. Obviously, the songs take on a different shape in the studio. We added more instrumentation, and things got bigger but, at the core, they’re still songs that work with just my voice and a guitar.
With a lot of your music – both as a solo artist and in Bloc Party – your voice is always at the centre of it all. On this record, you can feel that your voice is exploring new territory. How are you finding that process of discovering new sides of your tone?
As a singer and as a songwriter, I’m constantly trying to push myself into areas that are slightly foreign. I’m constantly trying to use my voice in a way that I haven’t used it before, and I don’t really know where that comes from. I think it comes from still being excited about new territory. When I’m writing songs, or when I’m singing, I still am curious about my instrument, which is my voice. I always want to see what it can do. There can be the temptation when you are creating, and you have an element of success, to always repeat what it is you have done and that has made you successful I completely get where that comes from, but I’ve never really subscribed to that. First and foremost, I’m just curious about what it is I do, what it is I can do, and what it is I can’t do. I think that healthy curiosity is what pushes me to push myself in different directions.
You’ve said that listening to your older work makes you feel uncomfortable, because you hear things that you want to change. Was it the same this time round, or did you feel more comfortable knowing when a song was finished?
I’ve learned that this is a record that I’ve made now, and that that process of feeling slightly uncomfortable, when you listen back to something you did a few years ago, never goes away. I know that I’ll feel that way about ‘Fatherland’. I mean, I already kind of feel that way in some places, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I recognise that that mentality is just part of the process that keeps you wanting to explore other things. You know, you love these records so intensely whilst you’re making them, and listen to them so intensely, but as soon as they’re done and out there in the public domain, you kind of disengage with it emotionally and start seeing flaws that you made, that you didn’t see at the time. But that action is part of what drives you to make more music. I think it would be very sad if I ever made a record that I thought was perfect — I think it would mean that I wouldn’t be motivated to make more music.
You have Olly Alexander on the album – before working with him, you’d read something he’d written about gender pronouns in pop music. When you were working with him, what did you learn from him?
First and foremost, he’s a fantastic musician – he’s a brilliant singer and he has such masterful control of his voice – it’s so pure and clear-sounding. He has a very soulful voice, which you might not necessarily think when you hear the music that he usually makes with Years & Years. Hearing him in the booth, I could hear a lot of nuances that I hadn’t heard in his music, and that was a nice surprise. Listening to him sing and working with him made me think differently about my voice, as well. I’ve never really sung with another male singer in that respect, so it was illuminating to me, just listening to what he could do. It made me push myself.
“To me, as the artist or the creator, I’m not so interested in the boxes that people want to put me in to make sense of what it is that I’m doing.”
With songs like “Grounds for Resentment”, do you feel like that lens of a queer love song is slowly finally disappearing?
I think that question really depends on what your perspective is as a listener, because writing a gay love song is not a thing to me; it’s not an issue, it’s not complicated. It’s a natural expression for me, so to presume that it’s something that is foreign or alien, I think that depends. I guess, in the world of pop music maybe it’s quite alien, because of the heteronormative narrative that pop music seems to exist in. The fact that I’m even talking about it, the notion of how desire is expressed on that song, suggests to me a lot about how music is being consumed right now. To me, it’s a natural expression, but I’m still having to justify it to people like you. It depends on your perspective.
That label was something that kept popping up in reviews of the album that I read.
Yeah — I’ve never read any of my reviews, so it’s always interesting to be asked questions about other people’s opinions about what it is that you do. I genuinely don’t pay attention to anybody else’s opinions, which I think is a healthy perspective, because it’s not really about other people. To me, as the artist or the creator, I’m not so interested in the boxes that people want to put me in to make sense of what it is that I’m doing. I don’t really care to decipher what I’m doing. I just care to do what I’m doing. So, yeah, I’m not so interested in other people appraising what I do — it’s a bit of a headfuck, really.
I can imagine it would be. Well, we’re excited to have you back in Australia.
I’m excited to be back — yes!
Is there anything left to tick off over here that you haven’t yet?
I’ve been to Australia lots of times in the fifteen years that I’ve been a touring musician, so although it’s such a vast place, it still feels quite familiar to me in certain places. I’m really excited to walk around the city and just look at what people are wearing… and just get that sense in places like Sydney and Melbourne — it’s different to everywhere else in the world. It’s a shame it won’t be so warm, because I could do with some sun right now! But I’m still looking forward to it, for sure.
It’ll be a step-up from a snowstorm, at least.
Ha! Yes it will!
KELE | AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
Thursday 29 March – Old Museum – Brisbane
Friday 30 March – The Basement – Sydney
Saturday 31 March – The Spotted Mallard – Melbourne
Listen to ‘Fatherland’ in full here: