The Boxer (album)

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. 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+).

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 (at Royan Castle, New York)
 * Chris Coady – mixing (track 3)
 * Phillipe Zdar – mixing (tracks 5, 7 and 8)
 * Ben Jackson – recording (at EMI Studios, London)
 * Scott McCormick – recording (at EMI Studios, London)
 * Mike Marsh – mastering (at The Exchange, London)

Design

 * Sarah Piantadosi – photography
 * Richard Robinson – design
 * Nova Dando – art direction

Publishing

 * Wichita Recordings – publishing
 * Shock Records – publishing (in Australia, with Wichita Recordings and Co-Op)
 * Glassnote Records – publishing (in the US and Canada)
 * Hostess Entertainment – publishing (in Japan, with Wichita Recordings)
 * Polydor Records – publishing (vinyl, with Wichita Recordings)