Listen to the André 3000 New Blue Sun album below
Can you believe the André 3000 New Blue Sun album is the artist’s first solo LP and the first album he’s worked on since 2006’s Idlewild with the multi Grammy award winning Outkast? In a surprise return on wax, André 3000 created an experience sans lyrics and full of wood wind instrument work. As described by André himself , it’s “a celebratory piece of work in the form of a living, breathing, aural organism.”
“I’ve been interested in winds for a long time, so it was just a natural progression for me to go into flutes,” stated André. “I just like messing with instruments and I gravitated mostly toward wind.” In New Blue Sun, André plays various instruments including a digital wind instrument, a Maya flute, and other bamboo and wood.
The André 3000 New Blue Sun album also features bells, chimes, cymbals, drums, gongs, plants and percussion by Carlos Niño, while guitar, guitar synth, and live sampling is done by Nate Mercereau. Surya Botofasina worked on keyboards and synthesizers.
“I think people feel like I’m sitting around on rap albums, or sitting around and I’m just not putting them out in that way. And no it’s not like that,” André continued. “In my mind, I really would like to make a rap album. So maybe that happens one day, but I got to find a way to say what I want to say in an interesting way that’s appealing to me at this age.”
Take a listen to the full album below, which features eight tracks spanning across 88 minutes.