Tricky Reaches Near Perfection With Nearly God

Nearly God is the latest incarnation of Tricky, the musician and producer wunderkind responsible for Maxinquaye. Maxinquaye was an ambitious and multifacted studio project, drawing on influences ranging from Public Enemy to Issac Hayes. And if Portishead didn't manage to hammer the seductive groove from "Ike's Rap" into your head with their single "Sour Times" (the tune even provided background music for a suitably glum and nubile Liv Tyler's bicycle ride in this summer's Stealing Beauty) then Tricky did with the dark but luscious "Hell Is Around the Corner."

With his new project, Nearly God, Tricky has expanded his circle of friends and collaborators but stripped down his production technique. The line-up includes Marina Tooley Bird, whose girlish, soulful vocals gave Maxinquaye so much musical depth, as well as Terry Hall, Alison Moyet, Neneh Cherry and Ice-landic cyber-nymph Bjork. The new album is a striking departure, layering stark, multifarious vocals over dark, spare musical lines. The result is a complex and often beautiful exploration of love, obsession and the subdued violence lurking beneath our deepest and most sincere affections.

The album's rich sampling of vocals is an obvious strength. Tricky himself performs on several tricks, most dramatically on "Keep Your Mouth Shut" and "Judas," sounding by turns creepy and sexy. Bird and Tricky also harmonize on the bizarre, disonent bass-driven track "Black Coffee." Bjork, though suprisingly restrined, still sounds like, well, Bjork, and anyone who's not a fan would do well to skip the schitzophrenic track "Yoga" altogether.

Though Nearly God creates a significantly less layered sound on the new album than Tricky has in the past, the result is no less rich or rewarding. As well as being a fine vocalist, Tricky remains an innovative producer and an enthusiastic sampler, but not an overly promiscuous one. Funk riffs give "Bubbles," a vocal collaboration between Tricky and Hall, the kind of inimitable musical flavor that makes an album great. Samplings of DAS EFX on "Keep Your Mouth Shut" as well as Bird's rap "Children's Story" pay homage to a few of trip-hop's influences, though none comes as close in power to her driving, ironic (though musically disimilar) version of Public Enemy's "Black Steel" on Maxinquaye.

It should be fair warning to say that Nearly God is an acquired taste. Tricky isn't the most cheerful of musicians. One of the album's best tracks, the somber and deeply funky love ballad "Poems" won't necessarily put the listener in the mood: This is the kind of make-out music designed to depress Peter Murphy fans. But Nearly God's ambition, the stark beauty of its musical landscapes and its willingness to explore the complex motives behind what we call love are just compensation. The album is a brilliant antidote to the makeshift angst of Jewel and Alannis.

Don't expect to hear it on the radio anytime soon.