Sinkane Announces New Album 'We Belong' For April Release

Sinkane (aka Sudanese-American musician Ahmed Gallab) announces his upcoming album We Belong out April 5.

His first full-length release since Dépaysé in 2019, We Belong is Sinkane's “love letter to Black music,” taking cues from gospel, Afrobeats, 70s funk, foundational soul of the rhythms of Sinkane's native Sudan and more.

Alongside the album announcement, he shares a new single “How Sweet Is Your Love” and its accompanying music video. Pre-save We Belong HERE and watch the “How Sweet Is Your Love” video HERE. Sinkane also announces new U.S. tour dates set for June in addition to his anticipated SXSW performances.

The upcoming project We Belong, tells introspective–and sometimes painful–stories of the Black diaspora with an underlying current of love and hope for the future. “How Sweet Is Your Love” marks a celebratory, funk-infused high point of the project. Set against heavy disco synth instrumentals and riffing strings, Sinkane encourages listeners to cast away their worries and embrace the current moment.

“‘How Sweet Is Your Love' is about remaining in the present and feeling all of your feelings as fully as possible," Sinkane comments. "It dares you to prove the sweetness of your love, to your loves!”

Meanwhile, on the vibrant “How Sweet Is Your Love” music video shot by Bảo Ngô, Yodancers from the Haus of Tisci ballroom collective put their moves on display at Bushwick's Sultan Room and its neighboring streets. Sinkane says: “One of my singers, Ifedayo, thought it would be a great idea for me to reach out to Haus of Tisci for a collab on this music video.

Their spirit embodies the love and energy of this song. Radical self joy to the max! STOUT, who is featured on ‘We Belong,' is a part of these Ballroom legends so I reached out. Next thing I knew, we were shooting this video. They did a wonderful job of welcoming us all into this song. Free your mind and your ass will follow!”

For this project, Sinkane assembled the who's who of musicians and collaborators which include Beastie Boys producer Money Mark, jazz fusion maestro Casey Benjamin, guitarist/producer Mikey Freedom Hart, Phony Ppl's Aja Grant, percussionist Meia Noite, organist Shedrick Mitchell, former bandmate Amanda Khiri and singers Bilal, STOUT, Tru Osborne and Hollie Cook.

He has also created an all-star six piece band called The Message, who support Sinkane live. Band members include: Ronnie Lanzilotta (bass), Dave Palazola (drums), Patt Carr (keys), Asher Kurtz (guitar), Ifedayo (vocalist) and Jessica Harp (vocalist).

The first single off the project, “Everything is Everything,” featuring vocalist Tru Osborne, is an acute reflection of life as a Black person in America (watch HERE / listen HERE). Sinkane opens the jazzy ballad “We're here again / Ain't nobody listenin'… Y'all only know our names from hashtags'' before taking a hopeful turn; “The tides of change / Serve great purpose in our every day / My people, we will find our way.” Upon release, Stereogum called it “a social commentary set against a cinematic, immersive sonic landscape.”

Sinkane has always paved his own way, defying all odds and surpassing expectations. With seven studio albums under his belt and an illustrious career as a composer, producer and band leader, he has orchestrated remarkable projects.

From music directing the Atomic Bomb! Band, the resounding revival of Nigerian funk musician William Onyeabor, to composing the “lively” (The Guardian) musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Enormous Crocodile which debuted last month, Ahmed's journey has been extraordinary to say the least.

UPCOMING TOUR DATES

Mon, March 11 - Sat, March 16 | AUSTIN, TX | SXSW

Fri, May 3 | NEW YORK, NY | Bowery Ballroom

Wed, May 15 | LONDON, U.K. | Moth Club

Fri, May 31 | SALT LAKE CITY, UT | State Room

Sat, June 1 | MCGILL, NV | Schellraiser Fest @ McGill Pool Park

Sun, June 2 | BOISE, ID | Shrine Ballroom

Tue, June 4 | SEATTLE, WA | Tractor Tavern

Wed, June 5 | PORTLAND, OR | Doug Fir

Fri, June 7 | SAN FRANCISCO, CA | Independent

Sat, June 8 | LOS ANGELES, CA | Zebulon

Sun, June 9 | PIONEERTOWN, CA | Pappy & Harriet's indoors

ABOUT SINKANE

We Belong, is the fifth studio album from Sinkane, a band led by multi-instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab. And like much of Sinkane's previous releases, it resists genre. It's pop. It's funk. It's electronic. It blends the gritty punk newness of a 70s and 80s New York with the steady, foundational soul of the rhythms of his native Sudan. Though We Belong comes deep into the catalog of a long career, it also resists stagnation.

It moves and travels—through words and eras, through emotion and healing. Gallab calls this album his “love letter to Black music,” and each track pulses with the energy of different eras and forms: the gospel-soaked “Everything Is Everything,” the dreamy, Quiet Storm-influenced Afro-beats of “Rise Above,” the 70s-funk of “We Belong” and its Sly Stone influence, the Stevie Wonder-edged “Another Day”—they tell a story about Black music and Black people.

The album itself also reveals Gallab's desire to create a work that not only reflected a community, but was made by one, too. We Belong assembles this community, makes it visible, to anyone willing to see, to hear, to feel. Gallab and Amanda Khiri, co-lyricist on most of the songs, passed notes across the digital divide. Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Ismael Reed, scraps of poetry.

The pair turned these late-night ideas into fully realized compositions. Casey Benjamin, a multi-instrumentalist who has worked with jazz pianist Robert Glasper, left his touch on several tracks. Jazz trumpeter Kenyatta Beasley soared across three songs. Soul singer Bilal lent his voice. Rising artists like vocalists Ifedayo Gatling, of the Harlem Gospel Travelers, Tru Osbourne, Hollie Cook, and STOUT, joined this community as well.

What had long been a solo endeavor by Gallab, suddenly became a collaborative experience. “Having all these people at my disposal [meant] I could actually be a producer,” he says. “I could zoom out a little bit and see what serves the song best. How can I make this better? Having a community around me really just allowed this to turn into something bigger than I could have ever imagined.”

The result is an album that showcases freedom, in all its forms. Freedom to create, to move, to love, to live. The we of the title is all of us. All of us who have lost and found community. All of us who have reached into the past to find our future. And ultimately, it is the sound of an artist finding his way back to himself by stretching beyond himself. “In making this album, I realized very quickly that I got a lot of freedom in not making it about myself,” Gallab says. “I realized I'm more than just me, there's all of us, all of us together. It's much more about community and much more about connecting with other people. But maybe, that's how I've kind of come to find myself.”

photo credit: Dani Barbieri

To post a comment, you must register and login.