Flesh Tone

Kelis is back

Author and performer Kelis heads the band of those worthy brother and sisters who are so ignorantly underestimated by the audience and press. The situation looked set to change four years ago when the singer released a very nice long player, Kelis Was There. It seemed that this could encourage Kelis to make other achievements, better off soon. Yet this never happened. Instead of an impressive concert campaign and preparing new good records, the singer sank into oblivion for as many as four years. And the reasons for that were not connected with music. Kelis gave birth to a baby, and later she was forced to go through a divorce. None of these could be an additional motivation to her. As a result, the artist prepared the following album only in 2010, naming it Flesh Tone. It was released after the delivery of the amazing single Acapella that left fans with hopes for a good full-length record. On the other hand, they (the fans) were not happy to know that the duration of the album did not reach even forty minutes. Apparently, Kelis was indeed far from the music all these years.

Futuristic dances to Flesh Tone

Flesh Tone does not take much time to get used to it. This work owns an atmosphere that embraces all the tracks, while the compositions are presented in such a sequence that transiting from one to another may simply pass you unnoticeably. Kelis is still deep into the idea of high-tech future, robots and space research. In connection with this, the short intro is followed by a song with a characteristic title 22nd Century. This is a remarkable house electronic piece that leads to another powerful dance track, 4th Of July (Fireworks). The synthesizers produced that type of sounding that leaves you with a sensation like you find yourself in a huge computer science laboratory or museum of human highest scientific achievements. You, later, pass over to a less dynamic, yet more hypnotizing song called Home. Following the explosive Scream, produced by David Guetta, you will be taken by Kelis back to the dance floors of the nineties or, probably, even eighties, as Emancipates kicks off. The concluding part of the album features the singer’s most personal material, one more energy-loaded track Brave about the hardships Kelis has recently endured, and Song for The Baby dedicated to her son.

Kelis knows what she’s doing

Sure, there will be those who would say that nine tracks is not quite enough for a long player. Yet this music has many other parameters that are so highly appraised that the lack of duration is easily made up for. Flesh Tone is not just another collection of dance songs that are likely to grab lots of airplay and infect numerous clubs. These compositions, being built around the core of most fashionable electronic music, are profound and conceal many layers in their content. The voice Kelis performs is sometimes commanding, or hypnotizing, or instructing, but never can it be ignored be your hearing. Flesh Tone creates a complex synthesized structure that is easy to penetrate, yet so difficult to get out. These nine tracks form a vast piece that should not be reduced or enlarged. Kelis has an astonishing feeling for what she needs to do in her music. The singer discovered a direction in which her art should proceed. Still doing R&B and pop material, she enriches it with the atmospheric effects and contemporary touches of dance electronic tracks. Music like this must have a future.