Last winter, Kelela released a live performance of Joni Mitchell's "Furry Sings the Blues," a semi-deep cut from her 1976 jazz-folk opus Hejira.Kelela's rendition of the song is utterly transfixing: accompanied by a little more than a fretless bass, her voice is muscular, but expertly restrained; each note animated with a subtle fervour as she basks in the eccentric, meandering splendour of Mitchell's baroque lyricism. It lasts just over five minutes, but feels limitless."Who wants more drama?" she asks the audience as the applause fades.True to her word, drama abounds on Kelela's phenomenal third record, new avatar, on which the D.C. singer plumbs new emotional depths as she traverses an alluring amalgam of alternative R&B, shoegaze-inflected rock and underground electronica. Bold and grippingly unconventional, the project reaffirms Kelela's status as one of popular music's finest vocalists and most exhilarating experimentalists.new avatar opens with "idea 1," a stripped-back slice of post-rock inspired by Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, a dystopian novel that presents an uncomfortably prescient vision of a planet ravaged by climate change and runaway inequality.But unlike many of her electronic contemporaries, Kelela seems less interested in "dancing through the chaos" of 2026; less interested in "reclaiming the joy" of the club. Instead, "idea 1" represents a confrontation with reality, a refusal to look away as the world unravels."Cloud and the crater, scorch every acre, don't make a sound," she sings over a lonesome bass riff, evoking the melancholy of a desolate shoreline before a rush distorted guitar crashes down like a tidal wave.Harkening back to her early days in the indie rock scene, the garage-y sound and moody atmosphere that pervades "idea 1" and several other songs on new avatar marks a thrilling, if not entirely unexpected departure for Kelela, whose previous album, 2023's Raven, was a stunning exploration of Black, queer dance music, featuring glossy production work from artists like BAMBII and Kaytranada.On "against me," her raspy vocals channel the angsty strain of grunge divas like Chris Cornell, while "crystalize" is an arena-sized power-ballad, complete with the reverb-drenched rock drums.Helmed by English electronic producer Oscar Scheller, new avatar is far more than just a guitar album, though.Across a dozen songs, Kelela's extraordinary versatility is on full display as she effortlessly navigates a sonic landscape peppered with dance pop flourishes and UK club music."Know you want me / Tell me I'm wrong / Waited all night / Don't piss me off," she struts in an airy falsetto on "don't piss me off," a moody, post-dubstep banger that sounds like it was manufactured in Burial's underwater studio. On "the bridge," she trades vocals with PinkPanthress over a quietly propulsive breakbeat, their voices slowly merging into a mesmeric whole. And on "outta time," she teams up with A.K. Paul (Jai Paul's brother and collaborator) for a sultry, bass-heavy track that feels haunted by the ghost of Prince.Even after multiple listens, it's hard not to marvel at the prismatic, otherworldly qualities of new avatar; hard not to be floored by Kelela's singular and commanding vocal delivery.And yet, despite their technical mastery, these songs are deeply felt and often moving, animated by the vibrations of a broken heart and an unbroken spirit."You don't rock hard enough / You're playin' in my face, that's why I'm givin' up," she sings on "if we meet again," her voice wounded, vulnerable and deeply human.
Wavelength
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