The Boxer is the debut solo album by Kele Okereke, the lead singer of British indie rock band Bloc Party. Okereke released the album under the professional name of Kele on 21 June 2010.
Release As promotion, he uploaded the songs "Rise" and "Walk Tall" to his personal website on 13 May. The first single from The Boxer was "Tenderoni", released on 14 June, and the second, "Everything You Wanted", on 16 August. The album's third single "On the Lam" was released on 25 October.
The album was released by Wichita Recordings worldwide, except for the US and Canada (Glassnote Records), Australia (a co-release with Shock Records and Co-Op) and Japan (a co-release with Hostess Entertainment). Vinyl copies of the album were released by Wichita and Polydor.
The digital and Japanese versions of the album included bonus tracks and remixes in addition to the standard 10 tracks.
Critical reception
The Boxer received generally favourable reviews from critics, currently holding an aggregate score of 70 on Metacritic.
It received very positive reviews from Allmusic (4/5), Clash (8/10), MusicOMH (4.5/5) and The A.V. Club (B+).
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from Discogs.
Kele Okereke – lead vocals, songwriting, art direction
Additional musicians Jodie Scantlebury – backing vocals (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9) Bobbie Gordon – backing vocals (tracks 2, 4, 8 and 9)
Production XXXChange – production, audio mixing (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 9 and 10), recording Chris Coady – mixing (track 3) Phillipe Zdar – mixing (tracks 5, 7 and 8) Ben Jackson – recording Scott McCormick – recording Mike Marsh – mastering
Design
Sarah Piantadosi – photography Richard Robinson – design Nova Dando – art direction
Publishing
Wichita Recordings – publishing Shock Records – publishing Glassnote Records – publishing Hostess Entertainment – publishing Polydor Records – publishing
Release history RegionRelease dateFormatLabelAustralia18 June 2010UK21 June 2010WichitaVinylNorth America22 June 2010GlassnoteJapan23 June 2010
Charts
Album Chart (2010)PeakPositionAustralian Albums Chart35Austrian Albums Chart71Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)41Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)89French Albums Chart178Swiss Albums Chart98Irish Albums Chart41UK Albums Chart20UK Dance Chart2
Singles Song Chart positions"Tenderoni"3166358414"Everything You Wanted"9317————"On the Lam"——————
References