Meshell Ndegeocello has announced a new album, Synonym, due out on October 2 via Blue Note. It’s a cover album of duets, and features Cynthia Erivo, Cat Power, Chaka Khan, Brandi Carlile, Bill Callahan, Chris Thile, Nick Hakim, Robert Glasper, Madison Cunningham, Laura Lee (Khruangbin), Lizz Wright, Emily King, Lianne La Havas, Moses Sumney, Destin Conrad, ANOHNI, WILLOW, Evann McIntosh, and Ink. David Gamson, who produced 1993’s Plantation Lullabies and 1996’s Peace Beyond Passion, returned to produce this time, and contributing musicians include Abe Rounds and Deantoni Parks (drums), Chris Bruce (guitar), Jake Sherman, Jebin Bruni, and Larry Goldings (keyboard), Josh Johnson and Levon Henry (saxophone), Elena Pinderhughes (flute), Bela Fleck (banjo), and more. See the cover art and tracklist below.
“This project is about classic songs that are known and loved,” Ndegeocello says. “The songs have diverse tones, representing various genres and intentional grooves. But the album is also about joy, selfhood, individual representation, and universal experience.”
The duets are all performed by people of the same gender “Or hover around the same continuum of feeling,” Ndegeocello says, adding, “Hopefully, that’s what stands out – that everyone is well matched musically and complement each other. That said: I’m not defining anything, because the absence of definition is where I feel most free.”
She continues, “This project is an expression of queer liberation as a synonym for liberation of all kinds. The queer community claimed me when others didn’t and for a long time that felt too far away from other communities to which I belong but now I recognize the ways in which it all overlaps. Once again, I went back to my elders: Audre Lorde told us that there is no single issue struggle. Similarly, these arrangements are synonyms for their originals – these different sounds still mean the same thing.”
The first single is a rendition of Aretha Franklin and George Michael’s “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” with Cynthia Erivo. Hear it below.
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO – SYNONYM TRACKLIST
1. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) with Cynthia Erivo
2. Don’t You Want Me with Cat Power
3. Don’t Stop The Music with Nick Hakim, Robert Glasper
4. Islands In The Stream with Chaka Khan
5. It Ain’t Me Babe with Madison Cunningham
6. Always on Time with Laura Lee
7. Be Real Black For Me with Emily King, Lizz Wright
8. Don’t Look Any Further with Lianne La Havas
9. The Closer I Get To You with Destin Conrad, Moses Sumney
10. Golden Ring with Brandi Carlile
11. I Got You Babe with ANOHNI
12. Here We Come (Here He Comes) with Evann McIntosh
13. Guilty with Ink
14. Hunger Strike with WILLOW
15. With God On Our Side with Bill Callahan, Chris Thile