Tricky/ Mixed Race

Tricky
Mixed Race
(Domino)

Considering his woozy, hazy music always seems best appreciated when you’ve got a hangover, it’s a tonic to be able report that not only is Tricky back, but he’s making some of the best music of his career once again.
But it begins frustratingly. The first track is blues, the second mutant g-funk. They’re both quite short and almost like sketches, while Tricky himself is notably absent. He’s back! But er… where is he? Fear not, because with the next track ‘Early Bird’ he’s really back. The Bristolian gets right up front for this track, coming to terms with an angry younger self caught between cultures.
Later, on ‘Ghetto Stars’ we have the album’s first really compelling musical statement: with its stalking bass, crunchy guitar and swirling synthetic strings, this is as good as anything from his first two LPs. Elsewhere it becomes clear that he’s been keeping his ear to the ground: ‘Time To Dance’ has an XX-style skeletal minimalism set to club beats.
The album comes to a frenetic close with the mad electro and gangster film-noir brass of ‘Bristol To London’.
The range of different musical styles here is stunning, with Tricky drawing on every aspect of his heritage, including Jamaican musical influences, combining them all to produce what could well be his definitive artistic portrait. Tricky – he’s back. No, really!