False Idols

False Idols confidently returns to a simpler, yet contemporary version of Tricky’s working formula.

False Idols is a massive triumph musically. There is no filler, in many places it sounds timeless, and by that I mean it would fit just as well in the “trip-hop glory years” (if there ever was such a thing) as it does in today’s glitched out, warped excuse for an industry collective. 

I'm Ready, on which that familiar sprechgesang delivery is somehow both metronomic and distended, is exemplary, but the whole record – dosed with menace – sounds hungry.

Throughout, there's a fresh impetus to Tricky's musical muse that enables his dark imaginings to connect again with beautiful simplicity.

Some 18 years after his astonishing debut album Maxinquaye, Tricky has come close to making Maxinquaye II.

In that sense, False Idols has the potential to be a more accessible and instantly enjoyable album than say, Maxinquaye, but because it's not as challenging to the experienced trip-hop fan, False Idols is also vulnerable of losing some its captivating allure.

Melodic pop hooks underpin every track – there is not a single moment of the difficult experimentalism or brag-rap posturing that marred more recent albums

On False Idols, Tricky steps forward with a renewed confidence, proving himself equal parts mentor and maestro.

‘False Idols’ comes close to vanquishing the spectre of ‘Maxinquaye’, comprising a fleshy and nasally return to form.

These tension-filled songs are all artfully restrained, while also being vibrantly expressive, crafted to be played in clubs that didn’t exist when Nearly God dropped, while also reminding these insular modern club kids where some of their current hit-makers got their sound from.

Return to form for trip-hop legend.

A return to a winning formula, if not an emphatic return to form.

Conceptually, Tricky seems to be doing some soul-searching -- but the running time is long, and at least three quarters of the album is top-shelf.