Sinkane Shares Origins of New Album, Unveils “How Sweet Is Your Love”: Exclusive
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The post Sinkane Shares Origins of New Album, Unveils “How Sweet Is Your Love”: Exclusive appeared first on Consequence.
Consequence’s Origins is a recurring series that gives artists a place to break down everything that went into their latest release. Today, Sinkane dissects his new song, “How Sweet Is Your Love.”
Sinkane (aka multi-instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab) has announced his fifth studio album, We Belong, out on April 5th via City Slang Records. In addition, the pop and funk artist has announced a US tour and released the new single, “How Sweet Is Your Love,” along with its accompanying music video
In a compelling preview of what is sure to follow on We Belong, the song is dancy and fun. It’s in part inspired by the American punk scenes of the ’70s and ’80s, as well as the soul music of Gallab’s native Sudan.
“‘How Sweet Is Your Love’ is about remaining in the present and feeling all of your feelings as fully as possible,” Gallab tells Consequence about the tune. “It dares you to prove the sweetness of your love, to your loves… Free your mind and your ass will follow!”
In addition to those musical inspirations, Gallab returned to school for a master’s degree in studio composition, saying, “It was the best decision that I could have made (well, outside of getting married, of course).”
Community also played a major part in the creation of “How Sweet Is Your Love” and We Belong. Sinkane has been Gallab’s solo project for a long time, but many artists joined in on the creation of this record, allowing him to play a role more akin to a producer on his first album since 2019’s Depayse.
Listen to “How Sweet Is Your Love” below, and read on for Sinkane’s breakdown of the upcoming album’s Origins.
Sinkane will head out on the road for a run of US tour dates in support of We Belong after performing at SXSW; see the full schedule below. Tickets go on sale Friday, January 26th via Ticketmaster, and you can also find deals at StubHub.
We Belong Artwork:
We Belong Tracklist:
01. Come Together
02. Another Day (feat. STOUT and Bilal)
03. Rise Above
04. Invisible Distance (feat. Tru Osborne)
05. Everything Is Everything (feat. Tru Osborne)
06. We Belong (feat. STOUT)
07. How Sweet Is Your Love
08. Liming
09. Home (feat. Hollie Cook)
10. The Anthem (feat. STOUT)
Sinkane 2024 Tour Dates:
03/11-16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
05/03 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
05/15 – London, UK @ Moth Club
05/31 – Salt Lake City, UT @ State Room
06/01 – McGill, NV @ Schellraiser Fest @ McGill Pool Park
06/02 – Boise, ID @ Shrine Ballroom
06/04 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
06/05 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
06/07 – San Francisco, CA @ Independent
06/08 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
06/09 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s indoors
Rumi and The Black Arts Movement:
Maya Angelou at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration, photo courtesy of William J. Clinton Presidential Library
I am a huge fan of Rumi. I have a bunch of books of his poetry around the house and the studio. I’m also a huge fan of poets and authors from The Black Arts Movement: Audre Lord, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Maya Angelou, etc. When writing lyrics for We Belong, I found myself going to them for inspiration.
Black music:
This album is my love letter to Black music and culture — both old and new. Parliament, Sly, Stevie, Pharoah, Coltrane, etc. Erykah Badu’s New Amerykah Pt. 1: 4th World War and Sa-Ra Creative Partners’ Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love are two records that have shaped my adult life. I took a lot of inspiration from those records.
Sounds out of Africa, the Caribbean, and the UK have been especially exciting to me. I particularly love Konshens, Busy Signal, Demarco, Rema, Davido, Juls, Sault, Ezra Collective, and Moses Boyd. All of the harmonies on the We Belong album are inspired by gospel music.
Electronic Instruments and Production:
Ableton Live 12
I make my albums on Ableton Live. It’s a digital audio workstation that’s predominantly used to make electronic music. I find it to be super intuitive for the way that I think about making music, and all of the tools that it has that are traditionally used to make dance/electro-based music are very useful to me.
I used a lot of synthesizers, drum machines, and samplers on this album. For the nerds: Korg Micropreset, Arp Pro DGX, Minimoog, Moog Matriarch, Moog Sub Phatty, Roland SH101, Roland Juno 106, Yamaha CS 10, Yamaha CS80, Yamaha CS01, Oberheim OBXa, Prophet 5, Prophet 6, Crumar Orchestrator, Serum, MPC 2500, MPC Live, Roland 808, and Roland TR8.
Music School:
Photo by Marius Masalar via Unsplash
I went back to school during the pandemic and got a master’s degree in studio composition. It was the best decision that I could have made (well, outside of getting married, of course). I learned the science of music and how things work. It was everything that I could have asked for and I didn’t want it to stop.
Hardcore Music:
Hardcore music is soul music. I was introduced to it at a young age and it has always stayed with me. I wanted these songs to hit you in the chest, to have the immediacy of hardcore, and I think that they do. Two song titles on We Belong are winks at the bands Black Flag and Universal Order of Armageddon.
Community:
Sinkane and full band, photo courtesy of artist
It took a village to make this album. And that village is New York. Some are saying that our music scene is dead and dormant, but I beg to differ. We actually have a very vibrant musical community.
Beyond the musicianship and colorfulness of the New York music scene, it’s the tenacity and grit that musicians from here have that I love. Musicians here really have soul. You can hear that on this record.
Sinkane Shares Origins of New Album, Unveils “How Sweet Is Your Love”: Exclusive
Venus Rittenberg
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