When “idea 1” was released last month, dudes on my timeline would once again be like, “Go Kelela.” In this instance, I had to admit dudes were right — and the shapeshifting singer-songwriter’s follow-up single “linknb” is even better.
The song arrives today alongside the announcement of the Washington, D.C.-born artist’s forthcoming album, New Avatar, due July 10 on Warp Records. I don’t know whether the title “linknb” is meant to be a play on LinkedIn, but that’s certainly what Google seemed to think when I searched it.
Unlike some of the scariest posting going down on the internet on that platform, the song is centred around a very knotty, Mk.gee-esque guitar riff and some pretty heavy drums creating an breakbeat-like effect to offset Kelela’s gossamer coos. “It’s not hard to be brave / Easier to give to much away,” she sings, “All I know is I paved the way / Underpaid.”
“linknb” is less than two minutes long and endlessly loopable, with each listen taking you deeper into its icy, Erika de Casier catacombs — where rhythm meets stillness. With previous credits for the likes of PinkPantheress (with whom Kelela collaborates with on the LP) and Shygirl, New Avatar producer Oscar Sheller does seem like a perfect link for Kelela’s next act.
New Avatar:
1. idea 1
2. point blank
3. goin down
4. outta time (feat. A. K. Paul)
5. against me
6. crystalize
7. retaliation lullaby
8. linknb
9. don’t piss me off
10. new life forms (feat. Fousheé)
11. the bridge (feat. PinkPantheress)
12. if we meet again