If it wasn’t for the global lockdown, we might never have had the chance to hear one of this year’s most intriguing and inventive albums. Lonely Guest was conceived and put together over the last 18 months by one of British music’s true innovators: Tricky. But as he’s keen to make clear: this ain’t no Tricky album. Rather it’s a thrilling meeting of musical mavericks, with the likes of Lee “Scratch” Perry and Idles’ Joe Talbot all pitting their unique approaches to songwriting against Tricky’s otherworldly production. From an unsettling tale of isolation courtesy of Maxïmo Park’s Paul Smith ‘Christmas Trees’ to the grunge stylings of Marta’s ‘Move Me’, via the tense storytelling of London rapper Kway’s ‘On A Move’, these diverse statements come together as a bold artistic statement of their own. Yet incredibly none of this was planned. Tricky had been expecting to be on the road throughout 2020, promoting the stark-yet-beautiful songs from his mesmerising last solo record Fall To Pieces. Instead, to keep his relentlessly creative mind busy during the pandemic, he began working through various collaborations with other artists … and realised they could work together.