Black Pumas’ Adrian Quesada Announces Solo Album ‘Jaguar Sound’ & Releases Single

Black Pumas’ guitarist and producer Adrian Quesada detailed a new album, Jaguar Sound, set to arrive via ATO Records on November 18. Quesada previewed the record with the single, “Noble Metals.”

Jaguar Sound is the prolific artist’s second LP of 2022 following his June release, Boleros Psicodélicos, an homage to Latin America’s balada music. Recorded alongside Boleros Psicodélicos, Quesada produced, wrote, engineered, mixed and largely performed the 12 instrumental tracks making up Jaguar Sound at his own Electric Deluxe studio in Austin, Texas. Adrian did welcome a number of guests including the band Ikebe Shakedown, pianist Neal Francis, David Garza on keyboards and harpist Mary Lattimore.

Like Boleros Psicodélicos, Jaguar Sound sees Quesada paying tribute to musical styles that have influenced him, this time around nodding to hip-hop, psychedelic soul and Italian film scores from the 1970s. Conceived during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Quesada recalled the evolution of the sessions for Jaguar Sound:

“I just rode my bike every single day and listened to The Alchemist. I’d come back home and crank out beats. Film scores and 1970s library music have always played a big part in my musical language as they paint a cinematic picture without words and that is very much something I draw influence from. It eventually got to the point where I wanted to bring them to life in my own way and turn them into songs. I started setting some aside that matched thematically, and I began recording live instrumentation. I find as I get older that sometimes I feel a responsibility to show the possibility to build bridges and coexist between different worlds. I want someone to discover something they normally wouldn’t entertain.”

Preview Jaguar Sound by watching the visualizer video for “Noble Metals” below:

Jaguar Sound Tracklist:

1. Reflection with Two Children
2. Noble Metals
3. Rise of the Have Nots
4. Spirits feat. Ikebe Shakedown
5. Starry Nights
6. Alberto’s Loop
7. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman
8. Fireflies
9. Turk’s Cap
10. The Inquisitor
11. DG on the Keys
12. Final Portrait