The Dark R&B Twist: Killa Kela

Killa Kela's new album 'Elocution' is something of a departure for the multi-talented beatboxer, who earned his chops touring tiny grassroots clubs, joining the Big Dada roadshow and performing alongside the then up-and-coming Roots Manuva, among others. His hyperactive fusion of beats, melodies, bass lines, scratches and effects was soon recognised as a magic touch, especially live, and before long he came to the attention of a certain Pharrell Williams.

"He provided some of the biggest help for my career," explains Kela. "When you're surrounded by good people, you do good things. He showed me what I was doing wrong; gave me some really good ideas. At one stage he wanted to sign us to Star Track, but there were 40 or more releases to come from that camp, which would have meant us rolling into 2008." Not content to settle, Kela finally signed with RCA. The resulting album is a modern pop classic, with Kela producing something akin to a darker, more fully realised 'Justified,' re-imagined with live strings and organic beats, sampled from Kela's own beatbox noises.

The Justin Timberlake comparisons don't bother him: "I wouldn't have thought I was in the same market. He has opened so many doors, especially for beatboxing. I don't think he's a bad beatboxer, and performing with him at the time was wicked. If you say my album has that tinge to it, I think that's cool! We have that same dark R&B twist."

Kela's singing voice is no blue-eyed soulboy affectation. His high notes are breathy enough to feel authentically unpolished, an indie inflection that will appeal to those who like authentic pop music. For Kela, singing was a matter of ambition, not profit: "I'd come so far with beatboxing, in terms of what I can do with my mouth. The biggest door to unlock was finding a way of having my own multi-vocal style, and trying to use different vocal disciplines." The use of a string quartet on nearly the whole album is a bold move, lending an expansive, epic tone. "The idea for the strings came from trying to find instruments that I couldn't do with my mouth, to try and separate that sound from the sound people know me for. I met the string quartet through Adem, who's on Domino. My sound man was also his and Franz Ferdinand's. He convinced me to get them on the record. When we started working together it kicked off, because they understood what I was trying to do: make people understand what beatboxing is all about."

Despite the big label deal and the celebrity mates, Kela is still loyal to the international legion of beatbox afficionados he has wowed at live shows since the early noughties. "It's slow burning. We want to release stuff and let people get their heads around it rather than ramming it down their throats. The record company see the commercial potential, but it's a balance. The fans I have collected on my way up to here, I've got to keep them fed, but at the same time I have the opportunity to gain a lot of new fans."

I ask if this was always his dream: "I wouldn't have put it down on my careers sheet, but if you've got the ball, run with it. Fortunately I can do it to the best of my ability - I'm not finished by any means. I'm not getting complacent, this is what I want to do."

'Elocution' is a fantastic sophomore album, all the better for being free of associations with Pharrell's camp. With skills like Razel, Kela is writing tunes with the epic sweep of Prince's 'Purple Rain' and Outkast's 'The Love Movement'. The boy's a prodigy – check him out.