Raven — Kelela — Cassette

It's like a 15-track ambient R&B mix for when you're feeling introspective and want to melt into your bed.

A serene yet heavy state of digital grace and isolated longing.

Released six years after her debut Take Me Apart, Raven represents a significant evolution in Kelela's sound, moving away from the jagged edges of deconstructed club music toward a more cohesive, ambient-focused aesthetic. The album was born from Kelela's reflections on her position as a Black femme in the predominantly white, male spaces of electronic dance music. Working with producers like LSDXOXO, Mocky, and Kaytranada, she crafted a record that functions as a continuous mix, blending R&B songwriting with the structural freedom of ambient techno. Critics noted its 'slow-burn' quality and praised its immersive production, with many highlighting how it centers Black queer perspectives within the history of rave culture. It stands as a landmark of 2020s alternative R&B, prioritizing atmosphere and emotional interiority over radio-friendly hooks.

Put this on for

Submerged in a hot bath while the city hums outside Headphones on during a solo midnight train ride Blue light from a phone screen illuminating a dark bedroom Slow-motion dancing alone in a kitchen at 3am Watching rain blur the neon signs of a quiet street Eyes closed on the floor as the bass vibrates the wood Decompressing in the car after a night that ended too early

Moments worth waiting for

The transition from the ambient wash of Washed Away into the sharp breakbeats of Happy Ending

The way the title track Raven builds into a dense, swirling vortex of vocal loops and deep sub-bass

The sudden clarity of the vocal harmonies on Holier that feel like light breaking through a thick fog

Sounds like

2023s production with a 2020s soul

Sits beside

Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides - SOPHIE, Black Origami - Jlin, A Seat at the Table - Solange, LP1 - FKA twigs

Lyrical territory

self_examination, love_romantic, identity