Out May, 15th on Don Giovanni Records, The Cycle is the fifth album by Mourning [A] BLKstar. It’s the Cleveland-based collective’s masterwork -- a double LP spanning 20 songs and three singers, touching on neo-soul, hip-hop, and the cosmic expanse in between/beyond. It is their song cycle, written in a time that just may need a song or two in support of and in love and power to the living.
The Cycle was created in a 900 sq. ft. storefront on Lorain Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, where Mourning [A] BLKstar practiced for three years. The band met weekly in that space on late Wednesday nights that often stretched into the early morning. Together, Mourning [A] BLKstar watched the flicker of the street lamps against damp sidewalks, listened to the sounds a city makes in every season and watched a cast of characters from the windows -- many of whom stopped to listen or dance along with the music.
The band wrote The Cycle together in that storefront; RA Washington brought in 12 song sketches and the rest of the group wrote their parts on the spot. It was an epic first practice -- a moment of spontaneous creative energy that lies at the heart of the record. The songs came together so fast that Mourning [A] BLKstar performed many of them for the first time just two days later at a showcase for The Panza Foundation, a local arts advocacy nonprofit dedicated to the support of Northeastern Ohio Musicians.
M[A]B is a multi-generational, gender and genre non-conforming amalgam of Black Culture dedicated to servicing the stories and songs of the apocalyptic diaspora.
"Reckoning simmers with frustration at the cycle of racism that has persisted in America through all of the eras its music references"
- Bandcamp on Reckoning
"One of 2019's sweetest and most soaring transmissions from black America"
- The Wire on Reckoning
MOURNING [A] BLKSTAR ON TOUR
4/4 - Cleveland, OH @ Mahall's w/ Ata Kak
4/24 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom *
4/25 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme *
4/26 - Detroit, MI @ Deluxx Fluxx *
4/27 - Cincinnati, OH @ Radio Artifact *
4/30 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas *
5/1 - Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club (2 shows) *
5/5 - Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall #
5/6 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg #
5/7 - Boston, MA @ The Sinclair #
5/8 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live #
5/15 - Cleveland, OH (LP Release Show)
5/16 - Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall #
7/18 - Yellow Springs, OH @ Springfest 2020
* w/ Oshun
# w/ US Girls
mourningablkstar.com