Nearly God

Nearly God, “Nearly God” (Island, 1996)
Robert Christgau wrote that this Tricky side project “achieves the stasis true Tricky albums only flirt with,” and while he meant this to indicate that the man had gone off the rails here, I actually think it captures the thrillingly creepy way Tricky used the freedom of not having his name on the thing to get to the most alien essence of his whole deal. Loping New York breakbeats slowed to a tortuous crawl that has you gritting your teeth as you watch and wait for the gears to turn, great sheets of echoing synth like dirt-flecked glaciers cut suddenly through a song and bring it to a halt, family 80s pop icons like Alf Moyet and Terry Hall take vocal turns like tiny figures in soundscapes that evoke the green-lit fever dreams of dying alcoholics. Heroic shit.
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3/18/18