A year and a half after the death of his daughter Mazy, English electronic pioneer Tricky delivered his appropriately dark and dirgeful 14th album, Fall to Pieces. The first full-length since 2017's ununiform, the set closely followed the first stage of Tricky's sonic catharsis, the 20,20 EP, continuing the mourning process across a taut 11 tracks that brim with angst and sadness. As the digitized production drones, anxiety and melancholy build to uncomfortable levels like the most unnerving and depressed Portishead or Massive Attack tracks. Clocking in at less than 30 minutes, Pieces is a focused collection of devotional vignettes that employs repeated mantras like "I think it's gonna work now" ("Thinking Of") and "Don't let it get you down" ("Close Now") for emotional therapy. Tricky does his best to deliver lines like "I hate this fucking pain" (atop the sparse piano sample on "Hate This Pain"), laying bare his agony in one of the album's most vulnerable and difficult moments. For the most part, however, his feelings are delivered by mediators Marta Zlakowska and Oh Land, who help Tricky express everything he can't say directly to his daughter, like on the clattering "Chills Me to the Bone," where Zlakowska intones "From the depths of my despair/I can't wait to meet you there." While Zlakowska handles the bulk of the vocal duties, Oh Land's one-two gut punch of "Running Off" and "I'm in the Doorway" are highlights, providing much-needed emotional relief through the physical release of these trip-hop/dub breaks. Later, the pulsing "Fall Please" offers another dance-friendly break from the intensity. Otherwise, Fall to Pieces justly wallows in its grief, a document to loss and tragedy. This sonic bloodletting is by no means an easy or fun listen, but an invitation to grieve alongside Tricky. ~ Neil Z. Yeung, Rovi

1		Thinking Of
2		Close Now
3		Running Off
4		I'm in the Doorway
5		Hate This Pain
6		Chills Me to the Bone
7		Fall Please
8		Take Me Shopping
9		Like a Stone
10		Throws Me Around
11		Vietnam

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