- 2024-03-03
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MUSIC
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Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ Jacob Collier Releases New Album “Djesse Vol. 4”
British singer-songwriter Jacob Collier released his fifth studio album “Djesse Vol. 4” on March 1, 2024.
It is his first album in four years since the 2020 album “Djesse Vol. 3”.
Also, the album is the fourth and final chapter in the Djesse series, which began in 2018 with “Djesse Vol. 1”.
The album comprises a 16-track, produced by Jacob Collier, including a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's “Bridge over Troubled Water” featuring uncredited vocals from Yebba.
He crafted the album in his home studio in London and on the road while criss-crossing the globe.
Also, on the album, he used collecting “Audience Choir” of 150,000 fans' voices recorded in every corner of the world across his last two years of touring.
The album features guest appearances from Brandi Carlile, Lindsey Lomis, Lawrence, Michael McDonald, Madison Cunningham, Chris Thile, Anoushka Shankar, Varijashree Venugopal, Camilo, Shawn Mendes, Stormzy, Kirk Franklin, Lizzy McAlpine, John Mayer, John Legend, Tori Kelly, Aespa, Chris Martin, Kirk Franklin, Chika, D Smoke, Sho Madjozi, Yelle, Kanyi Mavi, Metropole Orkest, Suzie Collier, Steve Vai and Voces8.- Jacob Collier said of the album “Five years ago, in the wake of a musical journey that had begun in solitude, I set out on an epic adventure with a big dream - a collaborative quadruple album, and by way of that - to learn music, and life, from the greatest teachers of all - my heroes.”
He continued, “In many ways, Djesse Vol. 4 is an album that's taken me 30 years to make. It is, to me, a celebration of humankind - the way that I see it and hear it, built with musicians from every corner of the world. To be culminating this collaborative experiment with a 100,000 voice audience-choir, a sound that permeates the heart of this album, feels like I've found the heart of it. My voice is only ever as full as the voices around me. Everyone is welcome, and part of the tapestry. And most of all, creating this album has reminded me that life is full of magic, if only we can remember to look for it in each other.” -
Jacob Collier wrote about the album on social media.
“It's 5:13am on March 1st 2024, in Los Angeles, as I write this - at the end of one era, and the beginning of another. Whilst it's impossible to truly put into words how it feels, I figured I'd try my best to piece the story of it together for you, and me, to somehow encapsulate what this moment means to me. At long last, Djesse Vol. 4 is yours. It's the end of a colossal journey for me, the foundations of which I first dreamed up over six years ago.
The year was 2017. I'd recently released my debut album, In My Room, crafted entirely in solitude, and toured in a similar fashion with a one-man-show. I was absorbing a massive amount of change in a short space of time, drinking up an exponentially expanding world-view - and within all of that, there was something on the horizon I distinctly felt I was craving, and that was collaboration; I was RAVENOUS for it.
Through much dreaming and scheming, an idea began to dawn on me, haunt me, delight me - a vast, collaborative album, in four chapters, colliding all forms of music I love, drenched with my most favourite musical beings from all over the world, friends and heroes alike - recorded across Earth's many corners. It was about as ambitious as I could have dreamed, but I don't recall it feeling outlandish at the time; it simply felt right. So I let it overtake my imagination, and started sketching it out.
Four distinct universes began to emerge. The first, Vol. 1, was a vast orchestral world - expansive, open and capacious. It would pull from choral music, Moroccan gnawa music, Brazilian samba, and much of the classical music that I grew up in the orbit of as a child. Vol. 2 felt to be a more intimate setting, cosy and gentle, with a cohort of acoustic flavourings - embracing tones of folk, bossa nova, African, Portuguese and Cuban-inspired grooves, and beyond. Vol. 3 began as a scrapyard of more electronic sonic experiments - crossing from funk into R&B, dance, pop, and the spoken word. This was a world of negative space - the inner world, the electric storm, the fever dream. Little did I know I'd end up making this album almost entirely during quarantine.
I left Vol. 4 as a blank space - a question mark - for some time, as I wasn't sure what would feel the most crucial to create - nor what the end of the story might be. I had some broad-stroke ideas - the return of the orchestra, choirs all around the world, a multitude of languages, a combination of past themes, the world as an instrument - but I wasn't sure how it would all converge. For a while, it felt unmakeable. The moment it finally clicked for me was during my world tour of 2022, when the Audience Choir began to take on wings of its own. Its musical, spiritual and philosophical impact on me changed the trajectory of my purpose, my creativity, and my life forever. I realised exactly what Vol. 4 needed to be - an ode to the collective human spirit, by way of the human voice. I ended up recording 91 shows throughout the year, all across the planet, and it's those audience voices that underpin the album sonically - they feature on almost every song on the album. There are over 100,000 voices in total, alongside the 100+ other musicians featured, with over 20 languages sung, spoken and rapped across the album. It's that explosion of collective energy which unifies the record. and the feeling I am most proud of.
From the bottom of my heart, I'd like to thank each and every musician who contributed to these four albums, hailing from across all continents of the world, of all ages and generations, and from unlimited genres of music; whose open minds and hearts have inspired bridges of all kinds to be built. It's a monumental honour to call you all my coadventureres, my teachers, my friends. You've each brought something so distinctly YOU, that nobody else could have brought. For that, I'm forever grateful. I'd like to thank every one of you who has ever come to a show of mine and joined the audience choir - you have changed my life, and foundationally shifted the nature of this album series. Thank you for carrying me, inspiring me, and showing me the way to beauty such as I'd never known.
To my beautiful 120-year-old music room in London, where I recorded, produced and mixed the vast majority of all four Djesse albums - thank you for being my eternal sanctuary, shelter and inspiration. To the 23-year-old Jacob who dreamed up this whole escapade six years ago from the ground up; who dug into the deepest parts of me, shattered my comfort zone, and took innumerable leaps of faith to make a project so vastly improbable into something real - I am deeply proud of you. And to the 11 year old Jacob, with Logic and his SM58, chasing a North Star - thank you for your courage, your perseverance, your curiosity. I will never stop exploring, in your honour.
I believe, to my core, that there has never been a more important time to create music. It is a universal language that holds unimaginable power to alchemise connection and bring about change. No matter who you are, whatever you believe, whomever and however you love, and whichever way you experience the world, there is something beautiful, crucial and undeniable about a collection of human beings combining forces to express truth and free each other. Music does this so beautifully, so utterly. All of us who make it and listen to it are a part of the conversation. This album has brought me back to life countless times - has helped me understand, grieve & process the world - and restored my faith in humanity in multitudes. It has taught me the potency of trust and patience, and shown me the immense power of putting faith in people. More than ever, this feels like the start of an adventure, rather than the conclusion of one. The end of the beginning, perhaps. I cannot wait to meet, sing, and celebrate with you all on the road this year with these new songs in tow. The thought of it fills my soul with an explosive joy that I cannot contain.
So, to all of you, whether you're a fresh visitor to my world or you've been by my side for a decade - I'm grateful to have found a place with you, here on the interwebs, on this fine day. Thank you for keeping me such excellent company. Here's to the end of the Djesse era - and to the beginning of the beyond. And now, at 6:46am - TO SLEEP.” - source : Apple Music
