Sara Serpa to Release New Album 'ENCOUNTERS AND COLLISONS' This Week

With her breathtaking new album, Encounters and Collisions, she changes course, embracing the art of intimate revelation with the most autobiographical music of her career. The album, due out November 15, 2024 via Biophilia features Serpa’s longtime collaborators Ingrid Laubrock on saxophone and Erik Friedlander on cello, joined by pianist Angelica Sanchez. 

The themes that Serpa explores as the story of Encounters and Collisions unfolds will undoubtedly resonate with many of her listeners – compelling tales of migration, home, family, motherhood, loss and art. Not only does the singer reveal her experiences and emotions through her poetic, impressionistic lyrics, but she relates her personal history explicitly through an accompanying set of short narrations, as well as a book of hand drawn comic strip-style illustrations that will be available for purchase in person or via the Biophilia website.  

 “The lyrics are an exercise in discovering how can I simplify the ideas and still make them somehow poetic or beautiful,” Serpa explains. “I wanted them to be not just plain text, but also reflect a very specific mood, emotion and feeling.”

Photo Credit: Ebru Yildiz

Sara Serpa

A native of Lisbon, Portugal, Sara Serpa is a singer, composer and improviser who explores the use of the voice as an instrument. Serpa has been working in the field of jazz, improvised and experimental music since moving to New York in 2008. Her ethereal music draws from a broad variety of inspirations including literature, film and visual arts as well as history and nature. As a leader, she has produced and released ten albums, the latest being Intimate Strangers (2021) and Recognition (2020). Serpa has been described by the New York Times as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook,” and by JazzTimes as “a master of wordless landscapes.” She has collaborated with an extensive array of musicians including John Zorn, Nicole Mitchell, André Matos, Okkyung Lee, Guillermo Klein, Linda May Han Oh, Kris Davis, Dan Weiss, Matt Mitchell, Zeena Parkins, Mark Turner, David Virelles and Tyshawn Sorey, among many others. Serpa has been active in gender equity in music and is the co-founder (along with fellow musician Jen Shyu) of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³), an organization created to empower and elevate women and non-binary musicians.