They have been hundreds upon hundreds of ambient music albums released this year, but there's only one released by an elite rapper with a 13x platinum record under his belt. In the 16 years since Outkast's tectonic shift went on hiatus, fans of duo André 3000 have been clamoring for the superstar to deliver more than the occasional knockout guest verse. Instead, he follows his arrow as a nomadic, bohemian troubadour playing his flute in airports, coffee shops, sidewalks and yoga classes. His debut album, New Blue Sun it's the full bloom of his middle-aged transparency into soft drones and minimalistic reeds. Fans were justifiably wary of an album bearing the “Warning: No Bars” sticker and song titles like “I swear, I really wanted to make a 'Rap' album, but this is literally how the wind blew me away.” at a time”. Fortunately, André 3000's 87-minute ambient music odyssey is a wonderful, deeply contemporary, prismatic breath of fresh incense.
New Blue Sun it also marks a culmination in the decade-long crescendo of the new-age hipsterati revival. In the early 2010s, labels such as Numero Group, Light in the Attic and Rvng Intl re-released. began reissuing private labels of American new age music, freeing a once-mocked genre from its reputation as crystals-and-the-wind-beating sleaze and repositioning it as an American folk tradition brimming with DIY energy. Labels like Empire of Signs and Switzerland's WRWTFWW have turned their attention to reviving Japan's gassiest, electronic ambient music you're likely to hear New Blue Sunthey are more synthetic moments. Alanis Morrisette, Moby, 6lack, Sufjan Stevens and even actor Jeff Bridges have had varying degrees of success with healing music in recent years.
From his side, New Blue Sun is the bulk of a scrappy, tape-produced track from LA's Leaving Records, an imprint that also exists at the intersection of ambient, new age, jazz, improv, and experimental electronic music. Much of the Leaving roster – Matthewdavid, Carlos Niño, Deantoni Parks, VCR – is on hand to aid and compliment André's melodies, expanding his cycling digital flutes into a communal bouillabaisse of bloated cymbals and alien shimmer.
Although the press materials are linked New Blue Sun to Laraaji's organic minimalism and Alice Coltrane's spiritual jazz, in practice it's more like the dreamy, semi-organic 'fourth world' music of composers like Jon Hassell and Steve Roach: fantastical landscapes where cosmic electronics meld euphorically with various shakers , canes and walking sticks. André's “digital reed instrument” evokes the uncanny soundscape of the valley in the late eighties for Japanese composers like Yoshio Ojima — not quite real, not quite fake, quite shocking. New Blue Sun she is not at all patient or minimal. Instead, Andre's crew work together like a dynamic live band dealing in soft tones and soft moods whether riding a groove (That Night in Hawaii…”), swelling in cascades of joyous chaos (“BuyPoloDisorder's Daughter…”) or creating rainforests of sound (“Ants in you…”). Our band leader has a meander that dances to percussion while his bandmates hum, simmer and sparkle. All these moving parts mean it's not exactly the most exciting environment for those looking for 'sedating' or 'therapeutic' music. However, when approached as the product of an underground jazz band or an underground electronic ensemble, New Blue Sun it's an absolute joy.
New Blue Sun it's not the best ambient record you'll hear in 2023. It's light when placed next to Tim Hecker's confrontational outburst Not highthe sensitive vulnerability of Ryuichi Sakamoto; 12Takashi Kokubo & Andrea Esperti's pastoral belts Music for a cosmic garden or the ambient warmth of Loscil/Lawrence English Colors of the Air. However, New Blue Sun it will probably be the only record environment of many people I am doing listen to 2023 and it's great that such a vibrant, luxurious album is getting the gig. Just like with the game-changing rap group, André 3000 plays Pied Piper again, and a world of sound awaits those who follow with open ears and open minds.
