With the release of the magnificent Icon Give Thank (TMT Review) featuring M. Geddes Gengras and The Congos this past April, Sun Araw could’ve justifiably taken it easy for the rest of this year. Instead, serving as a role model for his more motivationally-challenged followers, he’s releasing his sixth studio album The Inner Treaty, courtesy of Sun Ark Records (via Drag City). The album is due out September 18.
Since The Inner Treaty is Sun Araw’s first album after recording with The Congos in Jamaica, it might be worth highlighting the potential ways in which his time there has affected his creative outlook. In an interview with The Quietus, he remarks, “The trip was really a paradigm shift. It was an affirmation of things that I’ve been investigating for a long time, and in our subsequent trips down there that shift has been confirmed and solidified.”
The first available track off the new album, “Like Wine” (which you can listen to on his website), seems be wholly indicative of that “paradigm shift.” Regardless of their influences, Sun Araw’s albums have always, in my opinion, sounded like modern renditions, but “Like Wine” genuinely seems like something from decades past. The production seems even more stripped down, and musically, it sounds (though may not be, in actuality) even more improvised.
This should be the beginning of something. Forget vacation time. Can we get some employer-sponsored paradigm shifts?
The Inner Treaty tracklisting:
01. Town
02. Grip
03. Like Wine
04. Treaty
05. The Summum
06. And I
• Sun Araw: http://sunaraw.com
• Sun Ark: http://www.sunaraw.com/sunarkshopzone.html
• Drag City: http://www.dragcity.com