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SINKANE

Sinkane

We Belong

    We Belong, is the eighth studio album from Sinkane, a band led by multi- instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab. And like much of Sinkane’s previous releases, it resists genre. It’s pop. It’s funk. It’s electronic. It blends the gritty punk newness of a 70s and 80s New York with the steady, foundational soul of the rhythms of his native Sudan. Though We Belong comes deep into the catalog of a long career, it also resists stagnation. It moves and travels—through words and eras, through emotion and healing. Gallab calls this album his “love letter to Black music,” and each track pulses with the energy of different eras and forms: the gospel-soaked “Everything Is Everything,” the dreamy, Quiet Storm-influenced Afro-beats of “Rise Above,” the 70s-funk of “We Belong” and its Sly Stone influence, the Stevie Wonder-edged “Another Day”—they tell a story about Black music and Black people.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Come Together
    2. Another Day (ft. STOUT & Bilal)
    3. Rise Above
    4. Invisible Distance (ft. Tru Osborne)
    5. Everything Is Everything (ft. Tru Osborne)
    6. We Belong (ft. STOUT)
    7. How Sweet Is Your Love
    8. Liming
    9. Home (ft. Hollie Cook)
    10. The Anthem (ft. STOUT)

    Sinkane

    Getting' Weird (Alive At Spacebomb Studios)

    Sinkane’s Ahmed Gallab takes full advantage of the opportunity on the latest in the Alive at Spacebomb Studios series - the fourth in the series, following albums by Natalie Prass, Sleepwalkers, and the duo of Fruit Bats & Vetiver. Following his album "Dépaysé" (City Slang) from earlier this year, which the Sudanese-American musician described as “the story of an immigrant’s journey of self-discovery in the Trump era,” Gettin’ Weird takes five songs from that album and one from 2014’s Mean Love (“How We Be”) and reimagines, rearranges, and finds new meanings with the help of Spacebomb House Band: producers Cameron Ralston and Pinson Chanselle, Matthew E. White as executive producer, and multi-instrumentalist and arranger Trey Pollard.

    The result is a masterpiece of analogue psychedelia, the organic and digital elements of the originals intertwined in the expanse of dub space, rerendered with toasty tape fuzz or reborn as 31st century gospel. Essential listening for fans of William Onyeabor, Peaking Lights and Hailu Mergia.

    TRACK LISTING

    A1. Everyone
    A2. How We Be
    A3. Ya Sudan
    B1. Mango
    B2. The Searching
    B3. Everybody

    Sinkane is an artist with a real stake in our current cultural and political climate. Born in London to Sudanese parents, raised in Ohio, and now calling New York City home, Ahmed Gallab refines his sound and message to peak form on his new studio album, ‘Dépaysé’.

    “Sinkane is an American band comprised of people from all over the world,” says Gallab in his bio letter for ‘Dépaysé’. “Our collective experience as children of the diaspora helped bring the music to life in the most honest way possible.” He adds, “Dépaysé is the story of an immigrant’s journey of self-discovery in the Trump era. The music is loud and raw, and it's bursting with an energy unlike anything I’ve ever done before.”

    ‘Dépaysé’ is Sinkane’s seventh full-length and the follow-up to Sinkane's acclaimed 2017 album ‘Life & Livin' It’. The band features Gallab, Elenna Canlas (keys and vocals), Jonny Lam (guitar), Ish Montgomery (bass), and Chris St Hilaire (drums).

    Accompanying statement from Ahmed Gallab: -

    It’s easy to be angry in moments like now. And that’s OK. But it takes courage to turn that anger into productive energy. The previous Sinkane album, 2017's Life and Livin' It, was released at a very crazy time: things like the Muslim ban, police shooting unarmed people of color, massive corruption in my native Sudan, fake news, Donald Trump, Brexit and so many other calamities all really forced me to think about my place in the world as a musician. I began to think about how I could use my music in a constructive way — not only to help myself but to help others who feel frustrated and powerless.

    I’ve made a lot of music out of my life story but I’ve always kept things vague enough that anyone listening to my music could relate to it on their own terms. And yet I have to admit that I never truly felt satisfied with that. I eventually realized that, in order to truly connect with other people, I first needed to connect with myself on a deeper level than before.

    Throughout the making of MY NEW ALBUM I kept asking myself the same question: “As an immigrant to America, where do I belong?” So, during the writing process, I worked mainly by myself so that I could ensure the most honest and personal answers to that question.

    At some point, I discovered the French word dépaysé, which basically means “to be removed from one’s habitual surroundings.” By extension, it means to be disoriented, homeless. That's a feeling I relate to very much in these times — and I’m not the only one who feels this way. That word gave me clarity and made the journey inward that much more exciting.

    So here we are. Dépaysé is the story of an immigrant’s journey of self-discovery in the Trump era. The music is loud and raw, and it's bursting with an energy unlike anything I’ve ever done before. The album starts with “Everybody,” an anthem of inclusion. Every day we wake up to another horror story about racism, and it’s left many of us angry, confused and frustrated. But we can change the news for the better. We can show people that a multicolored world is a beautiful one. Celebrating our differences yields beauty in life. And that takes... everybody. On “Everyone” I continue that line of thought to its logical conclusion: love is the key to helping us understand one another.

    I confront my insecurities with identity on songs like “Ya Sudan,” “Dépaysé” and “The Searching.” Truly understanding one's duality means seeing beyond where you came from: let go of any definition that others put on you and then you can truly see the beauty of your life experience. This, along with the rest of Dépaysé, has given me peace. I’m no longer confused about the duality of my Sudanese and American identities. Now I accept it.

    I want Sudanese kids to see a person like them as a positive role model in the arts. And to everyone, I want to make it clear that the world is a better place because of our differences. We’re all strangers in this ever-stranger land of America. We are all the American Dream.

    Best,

    Ahmed Gallab

    TRACK LISTING

    A1. Everybody
    A2. Everyone
    A3. On Being
    A4. Dépaysé
    B1. Ya Sudan
    B2. Stranger
    B3. Be Here Now
    B4. The Searching
    B5. Mango


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