It’s out this September via ANTI-.
Moor Mother is releasing a new album called Black Encyclopedia of the Air. The 13-track project was recorded last spring at the start of the pandemic, and features collaborations with artists like lojii, Elucid, Nappy Nina, Maassai, Antonia Gabriela and Brother May. The Philly-based poet and musician worked on the new record with friend and past collaborator Olof Melander. Black Encyclopedia of the Air is said to span topics and themes such as “memory and imprinting and the future.”
Ahead of its release, Moor Mother, aka Camae Ayewa, has shared a new track entitled Obsidian. The single features rapper Pink Siifu and lands alongside a new visual directed by Ari Marcopoulous. According to Ayewa, Obsidian is about “thinking about one’s proximity to violence. Thinking about violence in the home. Violence in communities.”
Ayewa announced her move to ANTI- last month. She also released a new single entitled Zami. “Using the lenses of Black Quantum Futurism, the lyrics speak to Time and Space, injustice, racism, erasure of African identity,” she said at the time. “Zami speaks of agency and something beyond freedom. It speaks of another future. It speaks about connections free from the stains of colonialism. It speaks about the expansive temporalities of Afro Diasporan people around the world.”
Moor Mother’s last solo album, Circuit City, was released in 2020. Ayewa also collaborated with Melander last year on a series of releases entitled ANTHOLOGIA.
Black Encyclopedia of the Air will be released on 17 September via ANTI-. Pre-order the album here and watch the Obsidian music video below.
