Today, Brittany Davis shares "Sun and Moon" (LISTEN / WATCH), the second single and its accompanying video to be released in advance of her new album, Black Thunder, due June 13 via Stone Gossard's Loosegroove Records. It follows the album's initial offering "Amid the Blackout of the Night" (LISTEN) released in April. A six-minute-plus spiritual jazz meditation, "Sun and Moon" explores how Davis experiences the earth's two most prominent forms of natural light having been blind since birth.
"This song represents what it feels like for me to know of the sun and the moon yet not experience either one of them visually," explains Davis. "Each one of the ultra lights of our universe is depicted by a certain chord. The sun is one chord and the moon is another. I’m trying to make the sonic version of what it means to have a light and dark balance. An intimate view upon the musical staff of my mind when it comes to the world I inhabit through sound and song. The sun and the moon, the ultra lights."
Davis' forthcoming album Black Thunder recalls artists like Nina Simone, Roberta Flack and Rahsaan Roland Kirk in its immersive, incantatory spirit. Recorded at Studio Litho in Seattle where Davis currently resides and produced by Josh Evans, the album features Davis on acoustic piano and vocals, Evan Flory-Barnes on bass, and D’Vonne Lewis on drums. The trio improvised the entirety of Black Thunder in a surge of interactive creativity across two days in the studio. Steeped in references to how Davis encounters the world, its 17-tracks present a consistently poignant and cathartic work.
"Brittany, Evan, and D'Vonne have, in some way, been preparing for this recording all their lives. Honing their instrumental craft and ability, of course — but more importantly, preparing their ears, emotions, and egos to be fully present and create absolutely in the moment," Evans explains. "To listen deeply and respond empathetically. To speak with uncomfortable honesty. To listen, and be vulnerable."
Davis arrives at Black Thunder via considerable headwinds. In 2023, she released her debut album, Image Issues, also via Loosegroove Records. It was met by critical hosannas. As NPR Music's All Songs Considered put it, "Brittany's music is a potent expression of hope...giving the listener courage to face the challenges the world throws at them." And American Songwriter hailed her “voice that would fill the deepest cavern. The blind singer/songwriter is a marvel and not for any reason other than she is dripping with talent and presence." Davis was featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, which noted, “She uses her music to connect with people and fight for a more inclusive world.” Black Thunder, however, marks a shift away from Image Issues’ contemporary soul-funk sound built upon drum machines and programmed keys; instead opting for a fully live, organic performance, one that showcases her stylistic maturation, pure expression and the breadth of her versatility.
The work of a sui generis artist charting a course all her own by bulldozing easy narratives and accessing the realm of pure feeling, Davis' Black Thunder is a creative thunderclap destined to resonate across the ages.
Black Thunder is out June 13 on Loosegroove Records.
Available now for pre-save and pre-order on digital and vinyl formats HERE.
