Kassa Overall has given us the latest taste of his forthcoming album Animals with new single “The Lava is Calm”, which features trumpeter Theo Croker. Overall says:
“I was thinking about lava because it hardens up, but that’s one of the craziest liquids that could touch you. It looks mellow but it will kill you. I thought it was such a good metaphor for explaining just how I was feeling about my emotions, even about my skill, my artistry.”
The idea of lava as a metaphor for his emotions and artistry is expertly drawn out across “The Lava is Calm” as Overall fuses together so many sounds and styles it sounds like different tides of feeling swirling together in a whirlpool. It starts tranquil enough, Overall singing over Croker’s trumpet, while various types of strings inflect and delicate synths echo into eternity. But there’s something looking disturb the calmness all the time, and after a few sonic warning shots, there soon becomes a burbling of manic synths, like a wave of anxiety or manic energy building up inside. Overall remains in control over proceedings though, and continues to amalgamate all these different instruments into a vibrant and completely unpredictable sonic soundscape.
Listen to “The Lava is Calm” below or find it on streamers.
Kassa Overall’s new album Animals arrives on May 26 through Warp (pre-order/save). You can find Kassa Overall on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Live dates:
May 04 – House of Blues – New Orleans, LA*
May 07 – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC*
May 09 – Brooklyn Bowl – Nashville, TN*
May 10 – Minglewood Hall – Memphis, TN*
May 11 – Delmar Hall – St. Louis, MO*
May 13 – KEXP Music Heals Stage – Seattle, WA
June 06 – Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
June 07 – Marble Bar – Detroit, MI
June 08 – TD Music Hall at Allied Music Centre – Toronto, ON
June 10 – Love, Velma at The Mod House – Ellenville, NY
June 12 – The Falcon – Marlboro, NY
June 13 – The Lounge at World Cafe Live – Philadelphia, PA
June 14 – Creative Alliance – Baltimore, MD
June 15 – Baby’s All Right – Brooklyn, NY
June 16 – Home Rule Music Fest at Songbyrd – Washington D.C.
June 17 – Madison Jazz Festival – Madison, WI
June 23 – Zebulon – Los Angeles, CA
July 6 – Montreal Jazz Festival – Montreal, QC
July 8 – Arts Center at Duck Creek – East Hampton, NY
July 28 – Calgary Folk Festival – Calgary, AB
August 09 – Ronnie Scott’s – London, UK
August 11 – We Out Here Festival – Dorset, UK
August 12 – A l’Arme Festival – Berlin, DE
August 17 – Cologne Jazzweek – Cologne, DE
August 24 – Casbah – San Diego, CA
August 25 – The New Parish – Oakland, CA
August 26 – Mississippi Studios – Portland OR
August 27 – THING Festival – Port Townsend, WA
Sept 14-16 – by:Larm – Oslo, Norway
*Supporting Digable Planets
