Kele Okereke is gearing up to release his latest solo LP Fatherland later this year, and the Bloc Party frontman has just shared another preview of the new record.
He's unveiled a new track titled "Grounds for Resentment," and it features a guest appearance from Years & Years' Olly Alexander.
Answering readers' questions via The Guardian, Okereke explained that he was drawn to Alexander by previous comments he'd made about use of pronouns in popular music, and the barriers they still enforce for gay musicians.
Okereke said:
I remember reading something that he wrote about the use of pronouns in pop music for gay artists that I thought that was very perceptive and intelligent — that the use of pronouns was the last frontier for gay artists. There are lots of gay acts that avoid using the term he when singing about same sex desire. It will just be a neutral term, whereas Olly understands from what I read that there is a long way to go for gay musicians in being able to describe love and desire authentically. So I was very happy to sing a romantic duet with him on my album, because I couldn't think of a precedent of any out gay musicians singing a love song to one another without having to hide behind codes. It was nice to put that all out there.
Listen to the pair perform said romantic duet, "Grounds for Resentment," below.
As previously reported, Fatherland is due out on October 6 via BMG.
He's unveiled a new track titled "Grounds for Resentment," and it features a guest appearance from Years & Years' Olly Alexander.
Answering readers' questions via The Guardian, Okereke explained that he was drawn to Alexander by previous comments he'd made about use of pronouns in popular music, and the barriers they still enforce for gay musicians.
Okereke said:
I remember reading something that he wrote about the use of pronouns in pop music for gay artists that I thought that was very perceptive and intelligent — that the use of pronouns was the last frontier for gay artists. There are lots of gay acts that avoid using the term he when singing about same sex desire. It will just be a neutral term, whereas Olly understands from what I read that there is a long way to go for gay musicians in being able to describe love and desire authentically. So I was very happy to sing a romantic duet with him on my album, because I couldn't think of a precedent of any out gay musicians singing a love song to one another without having to hide behind codes. It was nice to put that all out there.
Listen to the pair perform said romantic duet, "Grounds for Resentment," below.
As previously reported, Fatherland is due out on October 6 via BMG.
