Photo by Paulo Gonzales 

There are seemingly no limits as to where Moor Mother’s expanding universe of sound will go, as she has worked with everyone from billy woods to Mary Lattimore and Lonnie Holly alongside a host of remarkable free jazz players throughout a countless number of projects under her own name and others. Her latest creative exploration may be the most far out and heavy. As SUMAC, the experimental metal supergroup of guitarist Aaron Turner, drummer and synth worker Nick Yacyshyn, and bassist Brian Cook are fresh off an astounding output in last year’s The Healer. Camae Aweya, for her part, released another one of the year’s best albums in The Great Bailout, and while news of their collaborative convergence on their new album The Film is already a lock for this still-early year’s most curious surprises, its first listen “Scene 1” sounds like a natural collision between where each of these artists have been heading in their respective corners of the cosmos. Ayewa’s poetry of real Black history is entangled through a dense space air. Every word is just inches away from a collision course with something that could offset the very fabric of our existence. And instead of near-misses or floating ellipses, she and SUMAC dare to allow them to hit.

SUMAC & Moor Mother’s The Film will be released April 25th on Thrill Jockey.