Tricky Leaves Trip-Hop Behind on ‘Different When It’s Silent’

The Bristol artist’s new album trades dark atmospherics for guitar-driven pop, with vocalist Mitch Sanders carrying much of the melody.

Tricky has spent much of his career shrugging off the trip-hop label, but on Different When It’s Silent he makes his distance explicit. The new album pushes guitars and bass to the front, building droning beats that owe more to rock and pop than to the Bristol scene he helped define.

The most conspicuous shift is the presence of vocalist Mitch Sanders. A fellow Bristol native with no ties to Massive Attack, Sanders delivers a light, Thom Yorke-like falsetto across most of the album

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ROMBO Editorial Staff

ROMBO Editorial Staff

The collective voice behind ROMBO Magazine’s news, reviews, features, and cultural coverage.