Kamasi Washington releases new song 'Truth' with accompanying video
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Kamasi Washington today debuts his first new music since the release of his universally acclaimed 2015 debut album The Epic. Titled 'Truth', the new thirteen-minute track is accompanied by a film from acclaimed director A.G. Rojas.
“Truth” is the first piece of music to be revealed from a forthcoming EP, Harmony Of Difference, which will be released in full this winter via Young Turks. Washington recently signed a global deal with the London-based label, home to The xx, Sampha, FKA twigs and more.
The music and film first featured as part of an original six-movement Kamasi Washington suite – also titled Harmony Of Difference – that premiered as part of this year’s Whitney Biennial. The full thirty-seven minute work sees Washington’s music set to artwork and imagery by his sister Amani Washington, before culminating in Rojas’ “Truth” film.
Exhibiting at the Whitney until the 11th June, Harmony of Difference explores the philosophical possibilities of the musical technique known as “counterpoint,” which Washington defines as “the art of balancing similarity and difference to create harmony between separate melodies.”
Washington’s suite includes visual elements married to the musical works and draws voraciously on jazz for its foundation. Each of the first five movements is its own unique composition. “Truth,” the sixth movement, fuses all five compositions into one simultaneous performance.
Echoing this fusion, Amani Washington created five paintings focused on raw shapes and colors, each inspired by one of the first five movements of the suite. Amani then combined these paintings to create a sixth: an abstract depiction of a human face.
The film, directed by A.G. Rojas and presented in partnership with WeTransfer Studios, brings the metaphoric ideas found in both the music and paintings to life. While still quite abstract, it focuses on the harmony found in people from South Central and East Los Angeles and shows the beauty in their differences.
Beyond the artistic impulse to expand the possibilities within counterpoint, Washington wanted to create something that opened people’s minds to the gift of diversity. In his own words, “my hope is that witnessing the beautiful harmony created by merging different musical melodies will help people realize the beauty in our own differences.”