Kamasi Washington announces his new album “Fearless Movement” (out May 3).
A new song precedes the albumPrologue, with the video directed by longtime collaborator AG Rojas.
Washington calls Fearless Movement his dance album. “It’s not literal,” Washington says.
Dance is movement and expression, and in a certain sense it is the same thing as music: it allows you to express the spirit through the body. That’s the purpose of this album.”
Dance as an embodied form of expression marks a shift in focus for Washington. While previous albums tackled cosmic ideas and existential concepts, Fearless Movement focuses on the everyday, the exploration of life on Earth. This change in perspective is due in large part to the birth of Washington’s first child a few years ago.
Being a father means that suddenly the horizon of your life appears before you,” says Washington. “My mortality became more apparent to me, but so did my immortality: realizing that my daughter will live and see things that I will never see. I had to accept it, and it influenced the music I was making.”
The album also features Washington’s daughter, who wrote the melody for “Asha The First” during some of her early piano experimentation, as well as a host of new and longtime collaborators. André 3000 appears on flute, George Clinton lends his voice, as do BJ The Chicago Kid, Inglewood rapper D-Smoke and Coast Contra’s Taj and Ras Austin, the twin sons of West Coast legend Ras Kass. Washington has also recruited longtime friends and collaborators such as Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Patrice Quinn, Brandon Coleman, DJ Battlecat and more.
The album also includes “The Garden Path,” a song Washington first performed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” making his late-night television debut.
WATCH THE VIDEO
THE TRACKLIST
1. Lesanu
2. Asha The First featuring Thundercat, Taj Austin, Ras Austin
3. Computer Love featuring Patrice Quinn, DJ Battlecat, Brandon Coleman
4. The Visionary featuring Terrace Martin
5. Get Lit featuring George Clinton
6. Dream State featuring André 3000
7. Together featuring BJ the Chicago Kid
8. The Garden Path
9. Interstellar Peace (The Last Stance)
10. Road to Self (KO)
11. Lines in the Sand
12. Prologue
WEB & SOCIAL
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