Music
Space Afrika – the Manchester/Berlin-based duo of Joshua Tarelle Reid and Joshua Inyang – will release their new album ‘Quiet Storm’ on September 25th via Dais Records.
The 13-track album expands on previous album ‘Honest Labour’’s sound and scale – a sprawling, collaborative vision shaped with profound patience and intention.
‘Quiet Storm’ alludes to spirituality and the human condition, the tension between boldness and softness, ambition and the inner demons that persist.
The project is informed by celebrated artist Glenn Ligon, whose work deals with Black identity and queerness. A central inspiration at the onset of recording, Ligon offered his work Figure #30 (2009) for the LP’s cover artwork, and following the completion of recording, he agreed to provide the project’s name – an unprecedented gesture from the pioneering artist.
Contributors include Axelle Fanyo, Alto Aria, Klein, RXKNephew, Tony Njoku, Kiala Ogawa, Kelly Moran, and more.
Of their new album and era, they say:
“We challenged ourselves and our own notions of identity, around class and diaspora, and how that is represented across musical genres. We wanted to show the characteristics of our project through the people we chose to work with,” says Reid.
“We’ve stayed true to ourselves. It’s music from the heart. It’s music that has a particular rawness to it, but we’ve articulated that in a more modern classic structure, there’s a much more critical pronunciation of techniques,” says Inyang. “It’s a collaborative record because there is always strength and love in collaboration. But with that, we were able to focus more strongly on our personal identity.”
Space Afrika tease the album with new single ‘If This Is Hell’, assembled in a single take as a stream-of-consciousness from NYC’s Kaiuna Odogba aka Deuén, whose relatable array of spiraling brain activity is matched by jazzy, frenetic percussion.
Tune in now.
—
—
Photo Credit: Timon Benson