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Washington, DC-born alt-R&B singer Kelela is best known for blending spacey takes on soul and R&B with glitzy, futuristic EDM, but on her upcoming live album, she’s taking a different tack. In The Blue Light, which is due on February 11 via Warp Records, was recorded during Kelela’s May 2024 residency at the legendary New York City jazz club The Blue Note, and as such, features jazzy, stripped-down reworkings of fan favorites like “Bank Head,” “Blue Light,” “Take Me Apart,” and her second album Raven, along with a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Furry Sings The Blues.”
The first single is “Better,” from her 2017 debut Take Me Apart, which you can listen to below. Much of the percussion and the pulsating synths are removed, allowing her vocals to shine over a moody electric organ. The message of the lyrics may have gotten lost in the toe-tapping original, but here, they’re allowed to flourish, with more acoustic instrumentation. If you listen carefully, you can even hear the crowd respond as they’re moved by Kelela’s honeyed voice and the emotion of the moment. At the end, she even introduces her father, who attended the show and whom she credits for instilling her with an appreciation of jazz music.
You can listen to “Better (unplugged)” below, and see the tracklist for In The Blue Light, due 2/11.
Kelela
In The Blue Light Tracklist
01. “Enemy” (unplugged)
02. “Raven” (unplugged)
03. “Take Me Apart” (unplugged)
04. “Bankhead” (unplugged)
05. “Waitin’” (unplugged)
06. “30 Years” (unplugged)
07. “All the Way Down” (unplugged)
08. “Furry Sings the Blues” (unplugged)
09. “Blue Light” (unplugged)
10. “Love Notes” (unplugged)
11. “Better” (unplugged)
