Kamasi Washington Announces New Album ‘Heaven And Earth’ & Shares Singles

Saxophonist/bandleader Kamasi Washington will release his sophomore album Heaven And Earth through Young Turks on June 22. A number of tour dates were confirmed in support of the record, which features a pair of newly shared singles.

Washington issued the below statement regarding the double album Heaven And Earth:

“The world that my mind lives in, lives in my mind.”

This idea inspired me to make this album Heaven And Earth. The reality we experience is a mere creation of our consciousness, but our consciousness creates this reality based on those very same experiences. We are simultaneously the creators of our personal universe and creations of our personal universe. The Earth side of this album represents the world as I see it outwardly, the world that I am a part of. The Heaven side of this album represents the world as I see it inwardly, the world that is a part of me. Who I am and the choices I make lie somewhere in between.

Washington’s follow-up to his 2015 debut triple LP The Epic and the 2017 EP Harmony of Difference was recorded at Henson Studios in Los Angeles. Sessions for Heaven And Earth included Washington’s band The Next Step as well as members of The West Coast Get Down. The record’s 16 tracks also feature performances by the likes of Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Ronald Bruner Jr., Cameron Graves, Brandon Coleman, Miles Mosley, Patrice Quinn, Tony Austin and others.

Washington will tour globally in support of Heaven And Earth beginning with the two Coachella weekends and a show at Red Rocks with Vulfpeck later this month. An extensive European Tour is planned for May and early-June, before a return to North America for shows in June and July. Washington returns to Europe in August and also heads to Japan that month. Another North American leg of the tour is planned to being in mid-October and continues to mid-November.

The Earth single “Fists of Fury” and the Heaven single “The Space Travelers Lullaby” can be streamed below. Each track also comes with short visual companion pieces created by director Jenn Nkiru that were “inspired by a more expansive collaborative Heaven And Earth film project that is due for release later in the year.”

[Fists of Fury]

[The Space Travelers Lullaby]

Heaven And Earth Tracklist

I. Earth

1. Fists of Fury
2. Can You Hear Him
3. Hubtones
4. Connections
5. Tiffakonkae
6. The Invincible Youth
7. Testify
8. One of One

II. Heaven

9. The Space Travelers Lullaby
10. Vi Lua Vi Sol
11. Street Fighter Mas
12. Song for the Fallen
13. Journey
14. The Psalmnist
15. Show Us the Way
16. Will You Sing