Kele Okereke - 'The Heart Of The Wave'
Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke just released his new single ‘The Heart Of The Wave’, a tingling and exciting song that comes with a soothing and peaceful video. It is a light-hearted swirl of guitar loops and fully instrumental!
Kele is back with the release of ‘The Heart Of The Wave’ after a break of a year and a half, album ‘2042’ was his last release before that and got raving reviews from NME, Pitchfork and The Guardian. His new single was released on his own record label KOLA Records and comes with a tranquil set of visuals that pair perfectly with the single’s subject and its title. The video for ‘The Heart Of The Wave’ was shot by director Jack Chute along the desolate and expansive coastline of Margate.
Kele does not shy away from experimental pieces that swim against the tide. ‘The Heart Of The Wave’ is the perfect example of his experimental and daring sound, it is no conventional single but an almost enchanting and spiritual loop of electric guitar riffs inspired by bleak times. Kele explains how it came to be: “During lockdown I was spending a lot of time playing electric guitar in my room and I found on some of the bleakest days making the swirling guitar loops calmed me down. It was almost like a kind of therapy for me.”
Kele has always been moving and improving while relentlessly seeking new ways to present music and ‘The Heart Of The Wave’ is one of his most eccentric releases to date and shows the singer songwriter’s boundaries and how far apart they are. We know Kele from his solo work and his contribution to multi platinum band Bloc Party, but we hadn’t seen this side of the artist yet. It’s exciting and refreshing and a great soundtrack for my meditation sessions, yet admittedly not one I would listen to on repeat purely because I can’t shout along to its lyrics...
Words by Laura Rosierse