Kamasi Washington unveils a new song, “Dream State” featuring André 3000, today alongside an official visual—watch here and listen here. The track is taken from his new album, Fearless Movement, set for release May 3 via Young. Pre-order/Pre-save Fearless Movement here.
“When you receive a text from a wind friend something beautiful usually transpires,” says 3000. “The day Kamasi invited me to a session for Fearless Movement I was so geeked and honored. Now, every time we get together something interesting happens. We first played during a recording session for New Blue Sun and it’s been fruitful ever since.”
“‘Dream State’ is a celebration of life and the opportunity it gives us to explore new possibilities,” says Washington. “We created this song together instantaneously as we improvised off the music we made in the moment. It was such an honor to work on this song with one of my heroes, the great André 3000. And what an amazing experience André 3000, Brandon Coleman, Tony Austin, Mono/Poly and I had gliding freely through this world of sound not knowing where we would end up, but joyful in the journey itself.”
Washington will embark on an extensive North American tour this spring, kicking off May 4at New York’s Beacon Theatre with further dates including Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival, which he will co-curate with Herbie Hancock for the second year in a row, on June 16. See below for full tour routing.
Washington calls Fearless Movement his dance album. “It’s not literal,” Washington says. “Dance is movement and expression, and in a way it’s the same thing as music—expressing your spirit through your body. That’s what this album is pushing.”
Dance as an embodied form of expression signals a shift in focus for Washington. Where previous albums dealt with cosmic ideas and existential concepts, Fearless Movementfocuses in on the everyday, an exploration of life on earth. This change in scope is due in large part to the birth of Washington’s first child a few years ago.
“Being a father means the horizon of your life all of a sudden shows up,” says Washington. “My mortality became more apparent to me, but also my immortality—realizing that my daughter is going to live on and see things that I’m never going to see. I had to become comfortable with this, and that affected the music that I was making.”
The album features Washington’s daughter—who wrote the melody to “Asha The First” during some of her first experimentations on the piano—as well as a host of collaborators new and old. André 3000 appears on flute, George Clinton lends his voice, as do BJ The Chicago Kid, Inglewood rapper D-Smoke and Taj and Ras Austin of Coast Contra, the twin sons of West Coast legend Ras Kass. Washington further enlisted lifelong friends and collaborators Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Patrice Quinn, Brandon Coleman, DJBattlecat and more.
The album also features “The Garden Path,” a song Washington performed for the first time ever, making his late-night television debut, on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
Kamasi Washington is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader born and raised in Los Angeles. His three bodies of work to date—The Epic; Harmony of Difference, an EP originally commissioned for the 2017 Whitney Biennial; and Heaven and Earth—are among the most acclaimed of this century. As Told To G/D Thyself, his short film companion to Heaven and Earth, debuted at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival to widespread acclaim. In 2020, Washington scored the Michelle Obama documentary Becoming, earning Emmy and Grammy nominations for his work. Also in 2020, Washington co-founded the supergroup Dinner Party with longtime friends and collaborators Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper and 9th Wonder—their EP Dinner Party (Dessert) was subsequently nominated for a Grammy for Best Progressive R&B Album. In 2021, he contributed a cover of Metallica’s “My Friend of Misery” to the band’s Metallica Blacklist covers project. Washington has toured the world over and collaborated and shared stages with Kendrick Lamar, Florence + the Machine, Herbie Hancock and many more.
1. Lesanu
2. Asha The First (featuring Thundercat, Taj Austin, Ras Austin)
3. Computer Love (featuring Patrice Quinn, DJ Battlecat, Brandon Coleman)
4. The Visionary (featuring Terrace Martin)
5. Get Lit (featuring George Clinton, D Smoke)
6. Dream State (featuring André 3000)
7. Together (featuring BJ the Chicago Kid)
8. The Garden Path
9. Interstellar Peace (The Last Stance)
10. Road to Self (KO)
11. Lines in the Sand
12. Prologue
KAMASI WASHINGTON LIVE
May 4—New York, NY—Beacon Theatre
May 5—Philadelphia, PA—Union Transfer
May 7—Toronto, QC—History
May 8—Cincinnati, OH—Ludlow Garage
May 9—Detroit, MI—St. Andrews Hall
May 10—Chicago, IL—Thalia Hall
May 11—St. Paul, MN—Fitzgerald Theater
May 12—Omaha, NB—Slowdown
May 14—Houston, TX—House of Blues Houston
May 15—Dallas, TX—House of Blues Dallas
May 16—San Antonio, TX—Empire Theater
May 17—Austin, TX—Empire Garage
May 30—Vancouver, BC—The Vogue Theatre
May 31—Seattle, WA—The Showbox
June 1—Eugene, OR—McDonald Theatre
June 2—Portland, OR—Crystal Ballroom
June 5—Sacramento, CA—Crest Theatre
June 6—Monterey, CA—Golden State Theatre
June 7—San Francisco, CA—Warfield
June 8—Santa Cruz, CA—The Catalyst
June 9—Solana Beach, CA—Belly Up
June 11—Mesa, AZ—Mesa Arts Center
June 16—Los Angeles, CA—Hollywood Bowl Jazz Fest
July 31—Alexandria, VA—The Birchmere
