Following Bonobo's "Rosewood" from earlier this month, I'm happy to share with you the 2nd Fragments single "Tides" featuring Chicago-based activist, award-winning poet and singer Jamila Wood. Jamila has previously worked with names like Erykah Badu and Kendrick Lamar and her vocal is this piercing beam of light that's going to entangle around your heart and win it with its soothing intimacy.
"I'm really excited to be a part of Bonobo's project. I connected with the track as soon as I heard it. It felt like rain and waves to me before I even knew the project had a theme of cycles and tides, so it all came together very organically.”, shares Jamila.
With an irresistible deep and slow-motion groove, warbling harp, Woods’ knock-out vocals and a beautiful string-laden outro by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, “Tides” seems quite different compared to "Rosewood". Something one can expect from a Bonobo album... diversity at its finest.
The producer and multi-instrumentalist shares “When I first heard Jamila’s vocal she had recorded I knew instantly I had a centrepiece for the album. Lyrically it captured everything the project was about. This track was a real turning point in the process of finishing the album and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s incredible string parts at the end brought the whole thing to another level.”
Fragments (Jan 14th via Ninja Tune) also features Joji, Kadhja Bonet, Jordan Rakei and O’Flynn. Born first out of fragments of ideas and experimentation, the album ultimately was fused together in a burst of creativity fueled by both collaboration and Simon's escape into the wild.
An update from November 21st - Bonobo shared the official music video for "Tides" and the vibe couldn't be more fitting.
"Tides has been out for one month and I wanted to share this alternative version. My incredibly talented friend Benjamin Hardman has shot some beautiful footage for it. This is a more sparse, orchestral take on the original that focuses on what I think is the essence of the song. Once again big love to Jamila Woods and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson for their amazing contributions to the piece.", shares the producer on Instagram.
Explore this clouds version of "Tides" below.