New Blue Sun arrives on November 17th.
Seminal and oft-sequestered American MC and OutKast component André ‘3000’ Benjamin has announced the release of a solo album.
New Blue Sun is due for release on November 17th and was written and recorded in Los Angeles following the musician’s relocation from New York to California. A monumental and long-awaited marker in the storied wordsmith’s career, New Blue Sun will mark Benjamin’s first album of new music to release since OutKast’s Idlewild in 2006 and is notably an instrumental endeavour. A creative decision not entirely left-of-field to those attuned to the musician’s 2003 homage to John Coltrane or viral public sightings with a Mayan double flute in hand, New Blue Sun features Benjamin helming an assortment of woodwind instruments with accompaniment from an ensemble comprising Carlos Niño, Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau, Deantoni Parks, V.C.R and more.
No previews of New Blue Sun have been shared in advance of the album’s full release, with Benjamin affirming his preference for listeners to instead experience the project as an entire body of work during a newly published interview with Washington, D.C. media outlet NPR. During the same conversation Benjamin cited Laraaji, Alice Coltrane, Steve Reich and Pharoah Sanders amongst influences that informed the project’s creative direction.
New Blue Sun releases on November 17th.
Words by Sam Wilkinson.
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