It isn't that
Tricky
is no longer elaborating on his signature sound -- turning out variations of
Maxinquaye
would perhaps be regressive, but it would also still be enjoyable -- but that he's burrowed into bitter, nasty self-parody. It's little wonder that
Island
decided to cut its losses while the label could, since he's become positively obsessed with two things: proving his street hip-hop credibility (without changing his sound, mind you) and dwelling on his lack of commercial success. This might not be a death knell if he demonstrated a willingness to change, but he's stubbornly sticking to the sound he settled on with
Pre-Millennium Tension
. Not bad, at least sonically, but certainly not groundbreaking -- an impression not helped by the recycling of the (admittedly difficult to find) independently released single
"Divine Comedy,"
wherein
attacks
for not giving him adequate support. Well, who could??? The guy has a talent bordering on genius, and even if his three albums following
merely expanded that record's sound, they were often compelling. But it was never, ever, commercial -- especially in the U.S., where trip-hop was only marginally thirty-something dinner music, unlike his native U.K. And, even then, nobody listens to
to relax -- you listen to
to get within his own world, get within his paranoid, dope-fueled fantasies. Here, there's more paranoia than fantasy, and even if the title track of the EP works pretty well,
Mission Accomplished
tests the patience of the dedicated. Here's to hoping that this was a necessary purge, and that when he settles into a full-length for
Epitaph
's
Anti
imprint, he'll forget about chart success and record labels and just make music. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine