Three-time Grammy-winning, genre-defying collective Snarky Puppy will release their new album, Immigrance, on March 15 via GroundUP Music. The album is produced by bassist-composer Michael League, who founded Snarky Puppy in 2003 and has helmed it into one of the most popular and influential bands of the current jazz and instrumental-music renaissance. Listen to “Xavi,” the first single from Immigrance, via the player below.
Like Snarky Puppy’s last album, 2016’s Culcha Vulcha, Immigrance is a studio project featuring most of the same musicians and the same dynamic, creative spirit. However, it is also rawer and moodier than its predecessor. “Like Culcha Vulcha,” League says via a press release, “this record is largely informed by our travels, and we’re always trying to pass specific ideas through our filter and into our idiom without being disrespectful to the tradition at hand.”
Immigrance also draws from the idea that humanity can benefit immensely when different cultures come together. As its title suggests, it is not without its political undertones, yet rather than scorn or pontificate, it celebrates multiculturality. This is a concept that Snarky Puppy has always embodied by utilizing sonic influences from all over the world, as well as musicians from every corner of the United States in addition to Argentina, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. “The band itself is a representation of what we’re trying to express musically,” League explains. “That people [who] come together from different places can bring their strengths and experiences, and how that can be beautiful and cohesive.”
Snarky Puppy will release Immigrance shortly after hosting the upcoming edition of the GroundUP Music Festival, which will take place on Miami Beach, Florida, on February 8-10, with a line-up including David Crosby, Andrew Bird, Lalah Hathaway and more. After that, the ensemble will head to Los Angeles for a show at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on February 23, before starting their World Tour in April. Full dates of the tour will be announced soon.
Feature photo credit: Stella K.
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