The Line Is A Curve

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C.'s Grian Chatten, Lianne La Havas and Confucius MC, the album is out now via American Recordings / Republic Records and was mastered at Abbey Road by Christian Wright. There are things I have to say about the fullness and the blaze/Of this beautiful life,” they rap on “Grace,” offering the album’s final words. To date, they have been responsible for three plays, a novel, six poetry books and a work of non-fiction. On 2019’s The Book of Traps and Lessons, their first Rubin-produced project, Carey reined in his sound, leaving more space for Tempest’s words. The Line Is a Curve is a sentimental, prophetic, mimetic, and worldbuilding work that blends moody electronica with elements of neo-soul and grimey hip-hop.

If you’ve ever wondered what Kae Tempest would sound like if they’d been a performer in a 1920s jazz bar, then you should have a listen to ‘These Are The Days’, the song that kicks off the second half of their latest album The Line Is A Curve. The theatrical ebbs and flows of their vocals on Salt Coast acutely capture the timely themes of “sleeve-pulling nervousness” caused by everything from Covid to micro-aggressions.Notwithstanding that, Tempest remains one of our most innovative and thought provoking artists and despite the occasional mis-step, there is plenty enough going on within this album to keep us hooked. Elsewhere, on “Priority Boredom,” where each verse is dedicated to its own vowel sound, the monotony of individualism is cleverly represented with congested “or” sounds: “Priority boredom/Gorging/Four courses/Forced absorption,” they spit, the words like slushy fruit in their mouth. The album’s longest track, Salt Coast and its shortest, Move, are perfect examples of songs where Tempest’s voice is suffocated by the music. Tempest and Carey have spent the last several years learning from the studio guru, using their time at Shangri-La trying to reconstruct the relationship between Tempest’s intricately polysyllabic verses with Carey’s post-dubstep productions.

It’ll take a lot for them (or anyone) to release an album that means as much to me as Let Them Eat Chaos, but in terms of pushing themselves forward and continuing to grow – A Line Is A Curve is perfection. For everything I’ve said about new influences and more musical variety on this album, ‘Salt Coast’ is here to remind us that Kae is a poet at heart – it’s a lyrical masterclass, an inspiring story, an incredible moment of truth, another time when Kae chooses to tell us to try our best and accept when things go wrong. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Still, when Tempest decelerates the flow on No Prizes, the suspense and intensity fade away, leaving the track feeling a little empty. The track develops and unfolds magnificently, with dramatic, guitar-led sweeps, whilst all the while Tempest’s words increase in their urgency.

This album has a beautiful heart, there is so much love running through it and I can’t wait for people to experience it. Again, it’s a guitar-led piece, albeit this time it’s an acoustic guitar, delicately plucked, that provides the platform for Tempest’s lyrics.

Exit Strategy’ was produced by Bernard Butler and part-recorded here across Studio Three, the Gatehouse and Writing Room Three. Kae Tempest is renowned for their narrative-led, socially conscious writings that span poetry and fiction, playwriting and music. And it’s a very beautiful album, because so many people involved in making it are people that I’ve known and loved for a very long time.The album plays like a chronicle of pressures - the mind-numbing pursuit of a comfortable life, the eternal striving for more, the pressures of the city, the country, the times.