Kelela - New Avatar [Purple]

Kelela plugs in on New Avatar, a 2026 album that runs R&B through distorted guitars and arrives here on purple vinyl.

The Washington, D.C.-born singer spent the previous decade redrawing the edges of electronic R&B with Take Me Apart and Raven, two of the most forward-thinking records the genre has seen. For her third album she reached back to her early years in the D.C. indie scene, folding shoegaze, grunge, trip-hop and IDM into a sound that feels brand new and strangely familiar at once.

Oscar Scheller produced most of the record, with Kelela co-producing several songs and mixing every track herself, which helps explain how personal and precise it sounds. Opener "Idea 1" announces the shift with fuzzed-out guitar textures, and "Point Blank" followed it as a single. "Outta Time" brings in A. K. Paul, who also produced it, while "The Bridge" pairs her with PinkPantheress, a meeting of voices that makes perfect sense the moment they drift together.

Critics embraced it warmly, and it is easy to hear why: very little else sounds quite like it, in R&B or anywhere else.

A bold left turn from one of the most fearless voices around, and a natural fit for a turntable and a good pair of headphones.