Tricky – Different When It’s Silent

Tricky – Different When It’s Silent is his first album under his own name in six years, and his 15th studio record overall. After a run of side projects on his False Idols label, this one brings him back to the stark, unsettling sound world that has defined his work since Maxinquaye, but with a more direct emotional focus.

The strongest thread here is grief, loss and recovery. Much of the album was shaped in the aftermath of his daughter’s death, and that weight gives these songs a raw, inward pull rather than any sense of nostalgia. Mitch Sanders handles most of the vocals, giving the record a distinctly male voice, while Marta appears on the closing “Out of Place.” It lands as a personal, pared-back Tricky album that feels connected to Bristol, to his long career, and to where he is now.