Anjimile – The King (2023) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Anjimile - The King (2023) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz] Download

Today, Anjimile Chithambo, better known as Anjimile, announces his new album, The King, out September 8th, his first full-length since 2020’s breakthrough Giver Taker. To herald the announcement, he shares lead single, ‘The King’, accompanied by a visualiser by Daniela Yohannes, whose striking painting takes centre stage on the album cover.

Highlighting the artistic shift from Giver Taker to now, ‘The King’ opens with a lofty, melodic choir, an intro that belies the song’s motives. Suddenly, sinister arpeggios interrupt the reverie, and the voices grow darkly serious. Deeply steeped in the confusion, grief, and rage of being Black in America, ‘The King’ pushes back against the tired adage, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” hissing, “What don ’t kill you almost killed you// What don’t fill you//pains you// drains you.”

“If Giver Taker was an album of prayers, The King is an album of curses.” In his second album, Anjimile continues exploring what it means to be a Black trans person in America. The brutally honest reflection of 2020’s deadly summer is less reminiscent of the pink cloud of early sobriety and more rooted in the reality of seeing brutality with clear eyes. Drawing from influences ranging from religion, Phillip Glass, and lived experiences, the album is a grand step forward for Anjimile. Nearly every sound you hear on The King comes from two instruments: an acoustic guitar and Anjimile’s own voice. Other than a few beautiful contributions from Justine
Bowe, Brad Allen Williams, Sam Gendel, and James Krivchenia (Big Thief), the album is the result of a year in LA working intimately with Grammy and Juno winner Shawn Everett.On his second album, Boston folk singer-songwriter Anjimile relies almost entirely on acoustic guitar and his voice, sometimes manipulated and layered atop itself. The effect is mesmerizing on tracks like “The King,” which sounds like a medieval choir bleeding emotion; then a seismic percussive rhythm—some unrelenting earthquake—rolls in. “What don’t kill you/ Almost killed you/ What don’t fill you/ Pains you, drains you/ The plague of our year/ The Black Death is here,” he sings. It’s heavy drama, and just one of Anjimile’s observations on being a Black trans person in America. Evolving from his wonderful debut, Giver Taker, The King is stunning and unafraid. “Animal” is directly influenced by the brutal death of George Floyd at the hands—the knees—of police: “If you treat me like an animal/ I’ll be an animal … Is this growing old?/ Every day another grief to hold/ And I heard blue lives matter/ From a white liberal/ Piece of shit I couldn’t stand at all.” “Black Hole,” which features a thunder-clap performance by Big Thief drummer James Krivchenia, is big, full, listen-to-me loud, with Anjimile singing (“I believe no man on earth could fill me”; “Every note inside my throat is MIA”) over a buzzing that refuses to let you turn away. The same is true as he exposes incredibly intimate moments on “Father,” which captures the maddening heartbreak and desperation of watching a loved one grapple with addiction. “I wrote this song with my parents in mind as a sort of gesture of appreciation and love for everything they did to try and support me before, during, and after I went to rehab and got sober in early 2016,” Anjimile has said. It’s a gentle ballad with the texture of a hymn, even as the words stab. “Are you still drinking?/ What were you thinking?/ On my heart, weighing/ I am still praying,” he lulls over delicate strumming. “Mother,” meanwhile, is haunted and haunting, as Anjimile, who came out as trans a few years ago, wonders, “But am I your son/ Could I be one?” “Anybody,” the closest to a traditional folk song, finds him declaring, among voices like shifting shadows, “If you don’t find your wound/ Your wound will find you.” Guitarist Brad Allen Williams guests on “Harley,” which floats like a feather, and Sam Gendel lends spritely, even unapologetically rude sax on “Genesis.” On second-to-last track “I Pray,” Anjimile’s anger and confusion flashes as divinity-seeking desperation: “I don’t want to hurt, no/ I don’t want to feel this way.” Brutally beautiful. – Shelly Ridenour

Tracklist:

1-1. Anjimile – The King (03:44)
1-2. Anjimile – Mother (03:02)
1-3. Anjimile – Anybody (02:27)
1-4. Anjimile – Genesis (02:58)
1-5. Anjimile – Animal (02:31)
1-6. Anjimile – Father (02:41)
1-7. Anjimile – Harley (03:38)
1-8. Anjimile – Black Hole (03:42)
1-9. Anjimile – I Pray (04:30)
1-10. Anjimile – The Right (04:02)

Download from FileJoker:

mqs.pw_AnjimileTheKing20232496.rar