André 3000, Moses Sumney, Floating Points to feature on Shabaka's forthcoming solo album

The lead release, "End of Innocence", features contributions from Jason Moran (piano), Nasheet Waits (drums), and Carlos Niño (percussion), and its Phoebe Boswell-directed video features Shabaka moving fluidly while enveloped in water as the sounds of the piece similarly wash over the listener.

Of “End of Innocence,” and the album broadly, Shabaka says it “really signifies a departure for me, a departure from the bands that I’ve become known for playing in, and the arrival of the flutes in general. I bring a lot of flutes to the album and explore different kind of sonic terrains, although for this track in particular, it's not actually the flute, it's the clarinet. It’s my first instrument, the instrument that I consider to be my primary instrument, so it's really going back to what I feel most comfortable with.”

Additionally, Shabaka has announced dates for the project across the world including at the Barbican in London on Thursday 9 May.

Having put the saxophone down and devoting his studies and energies towards the flute, Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace is, in a sense, a debut album. And yet, the album also serves as a reintroduction to the artist It represents the spirit of exploration that the artist is most tapped into these days. With contributions on the record from André 3000, Lianne La Havas, Esperanza Spalding, Moses Sumney, Brandee Younger, Floating Points, Laraaji, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Saul Williams, Elucid, and more, Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace is a grand artistic statement from Shabaka, impossible to classify into genre, and bottomless in its exploratory curiosity.

Shabaka’s recent musical exploration includes employing a variety of flutes, including the ancient Japanese Shakuhachi, which he started playing in 2020 during the pandemic.

“Since then, it has slowly changed the scope of my musical inner landscape and drawn me towards a multitude of other instruments in the flute family,” he explained. “As more flutes have been added to my arsenal including Mayan Teotihuacan drone flutes, Brazilian Pifanos, Native American flutes and South American Quenas, I’ve started to appreciate the underlying principles that cause these instruments to resonate most fully and use this understanding to form a concept allowing me to freely move between instruments."

Tracklist:

1. End Of Innocence
2. As The Planets And the Stars Collapse
3. Insecurities
4. Managing My Breath, What Fear Had Become
5. The Wounded Need To Be Replenished
6. Body To Inhabit
7. I'll Do Whatever You Want
8. Living
9. Breathing
10. Kiss Me Before I Forget
11. Song Of The Motherland