Tunde Adebimpe, the multi-hyphenate talent and critically acclaimed lead singer of TV on the Radio, has announced his long awaited debut solo album. Thee Black Boltz will be released on April 18th via Sub Pop Records. The album is produced by Adebimpe & Wilder Zoby, and executive produced by Zoby, with additional production and contributions from Jaleel Bunton and Jahphet Landis (of TV on the Radio), and more.
Following on from the release of ‘Magnetic‘ last September, the next track to be released from the album ‘Drop‘ can be seen below. The song begins with beatboxing before its lyrics question:
‘ But will I feel it when I drop? / Restless hours / The ticking of a clock / On my life / And my life’s just a dot / On a timeline / And my soul / Is fading tonight.‘
The album tracklisting is as follows:
1. Thee Black Boltz
2. Magnetic
3. Ate The Moon
4. Pinstack
5. Drop
6. ILY
7. The Most
8. God Knows
9. Blue
10. Somebody New
11. Streetlight Nuevo
Speaking about the album, he is clear thatThee Black Boltz is not a TV On The Radio album. But in a lot of ways, the excitement of doing something on his own for the first time ignited a similar spark in him as during the early TV On The Radio days. The songwriting process is the same, he says, but with his TVOTR bandmates, Adebimpe knows he doesn’t always have to complete his ideas. ‘I’ve been doing this thing with this group of people for so long, that I can just have a vague sketch of a concept and I know Jaleel or Kyp will have five brilliant ideas on where it can go,’ he says. ‘But for Thee Black Boltz, I didn’t have that scaffolding to hang on. That was both terrifying and exhilarating.’
At the heart of the album is its title. It is his response to the macro unease of a post-pandemic world careening towards violent authoritarianism and the personal grief that has come from loss in recent years, specifically the sudden passing of his younger sister while making it. Thee Black Boltz is Adebimpe’s desperate grasping of small moments of joy amidst the dissonance and sadness, any way he can. Making this album, he says, was his way of processing everything: ‘It was my way of building a rock or a platform for myself in the middle of this fucking ocean.’
And thus, Thee Black Boltz. As he writes in his notebook, ‘The sparks of inspiration/motivation / hope that flash up in the midst of (and sometimes as a result of) deep grief, depression or despair. Sort of like electrons building up in storm clouds clashing until they fire off lightning and illuminate a way out, if only for a second.‘
‘Also,’ he adds. ‘it’s a good name for a cool metal band, and I think that most people would describe me as akin to a very cool metal band.’
