André 3000 “New Blue Sun” Album Review

New Blue Sun

André 3000

• Genre: Alternative
• Date: 17 Nov, 2023
• Content: Not-explicit
• Track(s): 8
• ℗ 2023 Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.

André 3000, a member of the former hip-hop group Outkast, triumphantly returns to the forefront of music with his latest release, “New Blue Sun.”

For almost twenty years, there have been requests for André 3000 to collaborate with Outkast again or make a solo album. With 17 years having passed since the release of the group’s previous album, the anticipation for new music from Outkast has only increased. In recent years, André has been spotted wandering several places while playing his flute. Andre 3000’s first solo album, “New Blue Sun,” is the result of all that wandering.

He agreed to release the new body of work on his own terms in exchange for taking some time to complete it. Many listeners may have anticipated André 3000’s comeback with a rap album, but “New Blue Sun” isn’t it. Rather, it is an assemblage of musical compositions in which he performs a variety of flutes, leaning heavy toward Jazz.

Album Cover Art

André and his famous flute grace the new album cover. 3 Stacks in his green and black outfit, holds his flute and stares down at a rock like he’s reading and learning to play new music notes from it.

Tracks and Features

The album’s twelve-minute plus lead single, “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album but This is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time,” establishes the tone for the rest of the record. André’s wooden flute blends seamlessly with Surya Botofasina’s synthesizer, Nate Mercereau’s guitar, and is accentuated by Carlos Niños’s smashing of symbols and percussion elements. It’s like auditory nirvana as the music fades in and out of a dreamy dance in the clouds.

“The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off the Tongue with Far Better Ease Than the Proper Word Vagina. Do You Agree?” keeps the same instrumental lineup and a free-form orchestration that seems to be floating across space at the whim of a musical explorer. The next in the series of flowery song titles is “That Night in Hawaii When I Turned into a Panther and Started Making These Low Register Purring Tone That I Couldn’t Control… Shit Was Wild.”  Deantoni Parks, whose rich, opulent, low-pitched percussion blended seamlessly with the musical discussion, offered a profound dive into tribal sounds.

Next up is an improvisation called “BuyPoloDisorder’s Daughter Wears a 3000 Button Down Embroidered,” which begins loudly and swells to a symphonic resolution with expansive flute, synth, guitar, and percussion before fading into thin air. The album changes direction with “Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity and Beyonce,” the album’s most brief track, featuring Diego Gaeta on keys, producer Matthewdavid, and violinist V.C.R.

A haunting rendition of “Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy” introduces Jesse Peterson and Mia Doi Todd. It develops in an adventurous manner, with Todd’s breathy, energetic voice chanting blending with raw acoustic tones. The fragmented bass and the wandering piano chords are what make the track such a beautiful listen.

With its lively and carefree vibe, “Ants to You, Gods to Who?” flows like a spring-fed river through a far-off interplanetary grassland. The album ends with “Dreams Once Buried Beneath the Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout into Undying Gardens,” a seventeen-plus-minute track that features a return to the initial musical comrades of the journey: Niño, Mercereau, and Botofasina. The last track is a serene journey over space and time, exploring the vastness of universal truth found in music. This is the ideal record to play as background music for unusual and private conversations, or to turn on after a wild night out.

Tracklist

NO	TITLE	TIME
1	I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A “Rap” Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time	12:20
2	The Slang Word P(*)ssy Rolls Off The Tongue With Far Better Ease Than The Proper Word Vagina . Do You Agree?	13:50
3	That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control … Sh¥t Was Wild	10:29
4	BuyPoloDisorder’s Daughter Wears A 3000® Shirt Embroidered	13:05
5	Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé	3:49
6	Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, And John Wayne Gacy	10:15
7	Ants To You, Gods To Who ?	6:42
8	Dreams Once Buried Beneath The Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens	17:11

Album Theme

The record is a shifting door of producers and musicians that were hand-selected to embark on an improvised soul-resonating journey through a cosmic jungle of ethereal possibility. A brand-new day has dawned—the day of the “New Blue Sun.”

Production Credits

Producers on the new instrumental album include André 3000, Carlos Niño, Nate Mercereau & Surya Botofasina.

Stream