Imaad Wasif Shares New Album 'So Long Mr. Fear'

Following the release of his new music video for lead single "Fader," acclaimed Los Angeles singer, guitarist, and songwriter IMAAD WASIF has released his sixth studio album So Long Mr. Fear via Sonic Ritual.

His first album in four years, So Long Mr. Fear was recorded mostly in isolation but in conjunction with producer and long-time collaborator Bobb Bruno of Best Coast. The album is an atmospheric record that showcases Wasif's clear and crisp vocals amid lush instrumental arrangements that belies its actual remote recording arrangement

To hear Wasif lay it out: "We built a tunnel through the goddamned pandemic... Though we never saw each other during the making of this, we were connected in the ether, sending songs back and forth to arrive at their completion."

The result is a sublimely intimate record that blends Wasif's essence as an artist with sophisticated, timeless arrangements and his characteristically masterful playing - all of which combine to resonate as if the project were recorded in a velveteen cave.

Within, listeners will find Wasif's most accomplished album from someone who has played on a cavalcade of essential recordings, including early slowcore noise rock duo lowercase (whose records for Amphetamine Reptile are ripe for rediscovery); psychedelic folk group alaska!; and Sebadoh/Dinosaur Jr. member Lou Barlow's project the Folk Implosion.

Those not familiar with his riffs and solos for Electric Flower Group, Grim Tower and ACID might recognize his electrifying work as a touring member of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Wasif, in fact, invited Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O to tap what he calls "the sinister grandeur of her vocals" on one album highlight, "Poet of the Damned."

A haunting ballad set, sings Wasif, "in our infected town" and "before end-times," the two vocalists lyrically recall walking floors in search of common threads, holding keys to the Doomsday Machine, and crawling out of basements to witness the narrator's "downfall as the poet of the damned."

On album linchpins "Elemental" and "Regeneration," Wasif invited sitar player Evan Haros to add drone-filled layers of electrifying energy. Singer Jen Wood (the Postal Service, Tattle Tale) joins Wasif on the previously mentioned "Fader,"; a song with the spellbinding couplet, "If I die next to you there would be no defeat/Only glory that would shine down on me."

Wasif and his collaborators harness piano, keyboard and long, moaning guitar notes that drift through the measures. Wasif so understands his instrument that not only can he mesmerize through his seemingly effortless expertise with six strings, he can convey three gentle, reflective notes to paint entire landscapes.

Imaad Wasif's sixth studio album So Long Mr. Fear was co-produced by Bobb Bruno and Wasif himself. It is out now via Sonic Ritual/Eternal Music Group.

Listen to the new single here: