The Bristol legend takes the mic.

Tricky has announced the self-titled debut by Skilled Mechanics, a project that joins the Bristol legend with DJ Milo, Luke Harris and a handful of vocal collaborators.

The group’s name is taken from a documentary about espionage, where it was used to describe “assassins who were sent abroad by the US to start revolutions and topple governments.” As Tricky notes, “I thought that was a great name for someone who was a killer basically. The name was so dark and cynical it just stuck with me.”

Skilled Mechanics allows Tricky to be at the forefront vocally in a way that Adrian Thaws only hinted at. “I wanted to build even further towards a catalogue of songs where I didn’t rely on a girl singer. But I realised it would be hard to do under the name Tricky because people would always associate that name with me using a female singer.”

His main collaborators on the project are lifelong friend DJ Milo (of famed Bristol crew The Wild Bunch) and Luke Harris, his regular drummer. Also appearing on the album are Chinese rapper Ivy 艾菲, London singer Renata Platon, Danish singer-songwriter Oh Land and frequent collaborator Francesca Belmonte.

Skilled Mechanics is due out on January 22, 2016 via False Idols / !K7 and is available to pre-order. The album art and tracklist are below, along with lead track ‘Diving Away’, which is a cover of ‘Porpoise Head’ by Porno For Pyros.

‘I’m Not Going’ (featuring Oh Land)
‘Hero’ (featuring Ann Dao)
‘Don’t Go’
‘Beijing To Berlin’ (featuring Ivy 艾菲)
‘Diving Away’
‘Boy’
‘Bother’
‘How’s Your Life’
‘Here My Dear’
‘We Begin’ (featuring Francesca Belmonte)
‘Well’
‘Necessary’
‘Unreal’ (featuring Xdare)