When the best seller of your career hits out of the gate, it’s hard for an artist to maintain upward trajectory. Such is the case for Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws, better known as Tricky. The Bristol native is credited with creating trip-hop, and Maxinquaye and Pre-Millennium Tension are rightfully considered two of the finest examples of the genre. Let’s not forget his work with the Wild Bunch, Massive Attack, and artists ranging from Bjork to PJ Harvey. Sadly, his output since his salad days of the mid-90s has been mostly hit or miss. He’s looking to reverse that trend with his latest, Skilled Mechanics.
Skilled Mechanics is a collaborative effort that pairs the British producer with longtime partners-in-crime DJ Milo and his drummer, Luke Harris, as well as Chinese rapper Ivy 艾菲. Also featured is London-based singer Renata Platon, Danish singer songwriter Oh Land, and Francesca Belmonte. The stated goal of the project is for Tricky “to work with many different artists, while at the same time pushing his unique vocal talents to the forefront.” For those familiar with Tricky’s unmistakable gravely pipes, this obviously is a good thing.
While the album proper doesn’t hit until January 22, 2016, Tricky has dropped “Diving Away,” a cover of Porno for Pyros’ “Porpoise Head.” No stranger to cover tunes (check out his version’s of Nirvana’s “Something in the Way” or Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story,” to name a few), “Diving Away” continues his tradition of taking a classic and putting his own unique stamp on the track.
By way of explanation, Tricky offers the following: “I toured with them [Porno for Pyros] in Australia in 1996. My daughter Mazy, who was about four years of age, was with us and she had frontman Perry Farrell wrapped ’round her little finger. He took all of us to Sealand in Australia. So there was me and Porno For Pyros all trying to get her pram onto the Australian metro. But how many big artists would do something beautiful like that? I think it speaks volumes about him. So I’ve got a lot of love for Perry Farrell and I’ve always wanted to cover one of his songs.”
