Samora Pinderhughes Releases 'Venus Smiles Not in the House of Tears' Album

Award winning pianist, composer, vocalist, and multidisciplinary artist Samora Pinderhughes shares the 1st LP of his long-awaited two-part album Venus Smiles Not in the House of Tears, out now via a collaboration between Pinderhughes’ own Machel Records and Good Cloud Day. The album marks the debut release for Good Cloud Day, headed by the former director of 37d03d and the Secretly Group. Watch the video for album focus track “Storm,” co-directed by Pinderhughes and longtime collaborator Christian Padron here.

On “Storm,” Pinderhughes reflects, “This song represents the climax of the issues within the relationship that the main character of the album is going through […] clearly each person in the relationship is dealing with their own issues, but they take them out on each other instead of working on themselves with compassion and understanding. The 2nd half of this song is one of my favorite moments on the album; I wanted to have more moments of pure groove on this album, because that’s a part of my musical world that I rarely get to express.”

The album has already received critical acclaim from WNYC All Of It, who welcomed and highlighted Pinderhughes on air in a segment—listen here. Watch videos for singles Slow Time, Drown, and Better.

Pinderhughes has also just won an Emmy for his work as the composer, pianist and vocalist on Michéle Stephenson and Joe Brewster’s documentary, “Going to Mars: the Nikki Giovanni Project,” which also earned a place on the Oscars shortlist on top of IDA and Cinema Eye Honors nominations for Best Music Score.

In support of the new album, Pinderhughes has embarked on a slew of new US and Europe tour dates, with stops in Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, DC and Seattle. In Europe, Pinderhughes will perform at the London Jazz Festival and make stops in Germany, Netherlands, and Poland. Tickets are on sale now, purchase here. Find the full tour routing below.

“Forgive Yourself. Learn to live with yourself. Don’t hurt yourself.” This is the mantra of Venus Smiles Not in the House of Tears, the third full-length effort from Samora Pinderhughes. Made over 8 years with loving detail and written entirely by Pinderhughes and his longtime producer Jack DeBoe, the album tells a non-linear story about a relationship that didn’t last, and the lessons learned through it. It serves as a deeply personal exploration & reflection of mental health in the modern age. How can love exist when grief is in the way?

Venus is an open-genre exploration of music-making itself with wide-ranging production and a dynamic landscape of feeling and spirit. A Juilliard-trained pianist, composer, and vocalist, Pinderhughes weaves a cinematic quality throughout; songs about depression, anxiety, social pressures, forgiveness, and healing take on the musical details of their stories. From quiet, contemplative piano pieces to hard-hitting and soulful full band jams, to expansive and full-throated choir celebrations, Venus is a fitting accompaniment to a multitude of daily human experiences.

Featuring musicians & singers from Pinderhughes’ tight-knit NYC community including his sister Elena Pinderhughes (flute), Joshua Crumbly, Kyle Miles (electric bass), Burniss Earl Travis (electric bass), Gabe Schnider (electric guitar), Riley Mulherkar (trumpet), Andy Clausen (trombone), Jehbreal Muhammad Jackson (vocals), Brad Allen Williams (electric guitar), Elliott Skinner (vocals) and more, the crew represents a wave of new artists who thread the ethics of detail, honesty, vulnerability, and care into their work.

Says Pinderhughes of the album, “Mental health isn’t solitary; it’s about how our feelings, fears, traumas, and conceptions of self meet the world around us. Like so many, I’ve struggled with depression, anxiety, and isolation within a complicated matrix of identities. I wanted to make a project that would be brutally and lovingly honest about what it feels like to try to sift through the debris of time. A project that really engages with what it means to love, in the midst of a society that teaches us all the wrong lessons,” he continues, “Hopefully through the prism of these songs, you can feel something that resonates with you in your own life and experience.”

These have been a landmark few years for Pinderhughes, who has collaborated on several albums that were nominated for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, including Aja Monet’s when the poems do what they do—of which Pinderhughes wrote and played on the entirety of the record—and Meshell Ndegeocello’s The Omnichord Real Book featuring Pinderhughes’ original song “Gatsby.”

The new LP follows Pinderhughes’ latest album, GRIEF, which was released in 2022 as part of Pinderhughes’ The Healing Project to widespread praise from The New York Times, NPR, Forbes, KQED, San Francisco Examiner and more. Listen to the record here.

ABOUT SAMORA PINDERHUGHES

Samora Pinderhughes is a composer, pianist, vocalist, filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist known for examining sociopolitical issues and fighting for change through his art. Lauded as “one of the most affecting singer songwriters today, in any genre” by The New York Times and “a magical being” by Forbes, Pinderhughes is shaping new worlds through his art, his honesty, and his vulnerability.

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Pinderhughes began playing music at two years old and went on to study music at Juilliard where he met his primary artistic mentor, MacArthur-winning playwright Anna Deavere Smith. Pinderhughes has collaborated and performed with a number of artists including Common, Robert Glasper, Karriem Riggins, Kyle Abraham, Sara Bareilles, Daveed Diggs and Herbie Hancock, and his works have been commissioned by institutions including Carnegie Hall, the Sundance Film Festival, The Kitchen, Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, and the Kennedy Center.

Pinderhughes is the creator and director of The Healing Project, a massive multidisciplinary project that examines trauma & healing from incarceration, detention, and structural violence. Pinderhughes was the first-ever Art for Justice + Soros Justice Fellow and a recipient of Chamber Music America’s 2020 Visionary Award. He is also a United States Artist Fellow, Creative Capital awardee, and Sundance Composers Lab fellow. He graduated from Juilliard and is getting his Ph.D. at Harvard University.

SAMORA PINDERHUGHES LIVE

September 1—Cologne, Germany—Cologne Jazzweek

October 7—New York, NY—Blue Note

October 8—New York, NY—Blue Note

October 10—Boston, MA—ICA

November 7—Berlin, Germany— J.A.W | Musikbrauerei

November 9—Gronigen, Netherlands—Rock It Festival / Kleine Zaal Oosterpoort

November 13—Amsterdam, Netherlands—Supersonic Festival / De Duif Church

November 14—Rotterdam, Netherlands— LantarenVenster

November 15—S'Hertogenbosch, Netherlands— November Music

November 16—Wroklaw, Poland—Jazztopad

November 17—Wroklaw, Poland—Jazztopad

November 19—London, UK—London Jazz Festival (St Martin Church)

December 4—Philadelphia, PA— Ardmore Music Hall

December 5—Washington D.C—Songbyrd

December 6—Pittsburgh, PA—The Cellar

December 8—Seattle, WA—Madame Lou's

December 10—Portland, OR—Jack London Revue

December 12—Berkeley, CA—Cornerstone

December 15—Los Angeles, CA— Bram Goldsmith Theater at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

February 6—Madison, WI—The Play Circle at Wisconsin Union Theater

February 7—Minneapolis, MN—Cedar Cultural Center

February 8—Chicago, IL—Constellation

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