This is his third studio album.
Gallant's highly anticipated, most fearless and genre-curious body of work to date, Zinc. is out now via Mom+Pop Music.
Untethered from the major label system and free from expectations, Gallant has teamed up with producer Ariza to make his bravest body of work, creating with the precision of a chemist, GRAMMY Award-nominated Gallant combines, co-mingles, and collates sonic elements, inciting a physical, emotional, and spiritual reaction in the process. His recognizable falsetto drips over a musical formulation fortified by glitchy beat-craft, spacey piano, incendiary guitar, and nocturnal rhythms. Ultimately, Zinc. is the album he wanted to hear, and the world needs.
Speaking of his third studio album, Gallant reveals "I saw Zinc. as the album I'd make if I had the chance to follow up my first record Ology again. It's a fresh start without confusion and the pressures of being part of a big machine. All that mattered was if a song spoke to me and if it reflected all of the weird things that make up who I am as a fan and as a person. I entertained myself and got a lot off my chest. I stuck to my guns and created an unfettered body of work that feels like me." He concludes, "I created the kind of music I wish existed and I could hear as a fan.
Focus track "Centigrade." featuring British singer-songwriter Nao, comes with an official music video, directed by Elizabeth Acevedo.
Speaking about the song, Gallant reveals, "It's about the fallout of an argument, there's a period where you're alone afterwards, and you have to think about what started it. I'm fascinated by the idea of that pause. It's an interesting purgatory."
Zinc. features 12 innovative, bold and genre-defying tracks, including previously released cuts "Crimes of Compassion.," "Fly On The Wall. (Osaka Version)" which FLOOD hailed for its "nostalgic texture.," and "Coldstar." an enthralling and hypnotic song which VIBEobserved as his "valiant return," adding that it "reminds people why they fell for him in the first place."
Another clear standout on the album is "Atoms," laced with intergalactic infectiousness, the upbeat and energetic track orbits a space-funk guitar riff, blasting off into a wild wailing lead and otherworldly refrain.
"I was channeling the anger of being accused of something you didn't do and trying to fix a problem that might not be yours to fix," he says of the song. "It's like you're splitting atoms for someone else. Sonically, it has a mid-eighties palette. I've been testing it live, and it's already my favorite to play."
On the opposite side of the sonic spectrum sits the album closer, "Lucid.," written during a period of intense depression, evident when he sings "What's the point if I only feel alive when I'm lucid dreaming?" "It's most indicative of how this period was for me. I was completely dissociating from reality. I'd sit in a bathtub, drink a ton of beer, and watch hours of an awards show from 1988," Gallant admits. "I wrote the song in this zone. I was struggling with depression. I was almost scared the track was too sad for this, but I'm trying to get the f*ck out of whatever hole I was in at the time. There's an optimistic connotation, because I get the sense something better is yet to come."
Renowned for his experimental edge, transcendent falsetto, and soulful melodies, Gallant emerged into the spotlight with his critically acclaimed debut album, Ology, in 2016. His standout single, "Weight in Gold," became an anthem of vulnerability and strength, earning him a GRAMMY nomination and solidifying his place in the contemporary R&B scene. He went on to collaborate with artists including Dua Lipa, Zhu, Brandy, Noah Cyrus and Sufjan Stevens, and made notable appearances at major music festivals such as Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Austin City Limits (ACL), and notable television appearances, such as "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," "Later... with Jools Holland," and the "Today" show.
Videos