When Bloc Party decided to take some time off and go on hiatus after five straight years of touring, the band’s guitarist and frontman Kele Okereke thought he’d enjoy a break from music. He couldn’t resist the creative pull, though, and booked himself some time in a recording studio to experiment. The Boxer, Okereke’s debut solo album that’s due out June 22 via Glassnote Records, is the result of that experimentation.
“I plugged in synths with no idea what they would do. I began programming drum beats, which I had never done before. It was completely back to the drawing board, " Okereke said of leaving his familiar guitar behind for most of the record’s instrumentation. "It was exciting and terrifying. In most cases, I sat down, pulled a drum beat out of nowhere, and arranged stuff around that. It was as exciting to me as the first time I picked up a guitar.”
“I plugged in synths with no idea what they would do. I began programming drum beats, which I had never done before. It was completely back to the drawing board, " Okereke said of leaving his familiar guitar behind for most of the record’s instrumentation. "It was exciting and terrifying. In most cases, I sat down, pulled a drum beat out of nowhere, and arranged stuff around that. It was as exciting to me as the first time I picked up a guitar.”
