Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Gabriel Teodros, host of Early on KEXP, is "Masculinity (feat. Immanuel Wilkins)" by Samora Pinderhughes, from the 2022 album GRIEF on Stretch Music / Ropeadope.
GRIEF is more than just an album — it's a third of "The Healing Project," a multimedia effort from composer/artist Samora Pinderhughes, which also includes a forthcoming digital archive and an exhibition, opening on March 24th at the Yerba Buena Center For The Arts in San Francisco. (Watch the accompanying film below, directed by filmmaker Christian Padron, and inspired by the black-and-white photography of Roy DeCarava.)
A Juilliard-trained musician, Pinderhughes wrote all the songs on the LP, inspired by artists from the '60's and '70s, like Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, and Curtis Mayfield. He tells Bandcamp, “What I love about Nina’s Pastel Blues, and Dylan’s first three or four records, is that when you listen individually, each song is a whole world about different ideas. But when you put them together, you get a picture of the time period.”
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Host Emily Fox and KEXP’s editorial team talk with artists about the stories behind their songs and the experiences that inform their work. Through each conversation, we uncover the humanity behind the music, allowing us to hear it in a whole new way.