Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn announce avant-garde collab album ‘Pigments’ (listen to Movement 1)

New Orleans vocalist Dawn Richard and multi-instrumentalist Spencer Zahn announced their first collaborative album today. Pigments is due October 21 via Merge, and its first movement–"Coral," "Sandstone," "Indigo," and "Vantablack"–is out now. Dawn first collaborated with Spencer on his 2018 debut People of the Dawn; for this album the artists reconnected to make something more experimental and avant-garde than the R&B and dance music Dawn is best known for.

Pigments features a full orchestral sound thanks to Stuart Bogie (clarinets), Mike Haldeman (guitars, sampled electronic instruments), Malcolm Parson (cello, violin, viola), Dave Scalia (drums), Kirk Schoenherr (electric guitar), Jas Walton (tenor saxophone, flute), and Doug Wieselman (clarinets). The pieces create an extraordinarily full sound. Dawn Richard explains, “I felt like the tools that I and other people like me were dealt weren’t shiny. Yet we still painted these beautiful pictures. This album is what it means to be a dreamer and finally reach a place where you’ve decided to love the pigments that you have.”

Listen to the expansive, atmospheric first movement, including a music video for "Vantablack" featuring a dance student from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, plus the album art and track list for Pigments, below.

Pigments Track List
1. Coral
2. Sandstone
3. Indigo
4. Vantablack
5. Sienna
6. Cerulean
7. Opal
8. Saffron
9. Crimson
10. Cobalt
11. Umber

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