Tricky Announces Skilled Mechanics Project, Shares "Diving Away"

Tricky has a new project called Skilled Mechanics—a collaboration-heavy outlet featuring a rotating cast of contributors. The self-titled debut album is out January 22 via Tricky’s imprint False Idols. Below, listen to “Diving Away”, which is a cover of Porno for Pyros’ “Porpoise Head”. 

The album’s lineup includes DJ Milo, Luke Harris, Oh Land, Ivy 艾菲, Ann Dao, and more. The album also features “Bother”, a cover of a Corey Taylor (Slipknot) song. 

Tricky on the project’s name:

It’s from a documentary about espionage. There was an ex-C.I.A. agent on this programme speaking about assassins who were sent abroad by the US to start revolutions and topple governments. He called them ‘skilled mechanics’. 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.

On the Corey Taylor cover:

I imagine people will be surprised at this. But when Luke and I went into the studio I knew he could sing but I didn’t know what kind of voice he had. I had to know so I could write for it in the future. So I said we should cover a song he really loved. And he said that when he was really young he used to listen to this song all the time, on his headphones. So we covered it because he was obsessed by it.

On “Boy”:

All the problems I have now are because of my childhood. I went to Bristol at Christmas time a couple of years ago and I ended up having an asthma attack. My eldest daughter drove down to the hospital to collect me and I said, ‘I think it’s because I’ve eaten something.’ And she said, ‘No it’s not. You’re remembering stuff. It’s because you’ve come back to Bristol, you’re being reminded of stuff.’ It’s obvious really. Most of my problems stem from when I was a kid.

The first time I remember seeing my mum was in an open, glass topped coffin in my grandmother’s house. I was about four years of age and she was in the room opposite mine. I found my dad in the phone book when I was 12 years of age. For some reason I used to sit in my auntie’s house and go through the phone book. This says to me that I was looking for an identity. Looking for myself. I found someone who had the same last name as me and my aunt said, ‘That’s your dad. Why don’t you give him a call?’ I used to go and see him and he would literally forget my name. It’s almost like I could have written this track 20 years ago but it was something that had to come out eventually, I had to put it down. But everything on that track is true. Every word on Boy is actual fact.

Skilled Mechanics:

1. I’m Not Going [ft. Oh Land]
2. Hero [ft. Ann Dao]
3. Don’t Go
4. Beijing To Berlin [ft. Ivy 艾菲]
5. Diving Away
6. Boy
7. Bother
8. How’s Your Life
9. Here My Dear
10. We Begin’ [ft. Francesca Belmonte]
11. Well
12. Necessary
13. Unreal [ft. Xdare]

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