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Aug 26, 2021 By Joey Arnone Photography by Samuel Prather

Jazz bassist and singer/songwriter Esperanza Spalding has announced the release of her eighth studio album, titled Songwright’s Apothecary Lab, subsequently sharing a video for a new song from the album, “Formwela 10.” Songwright’s Apothecary Lab will be out on September 24 via Concord. Watch the Mecca Filmworks-created video and check out the album’s tracklist and cover art below.

The album’s title is a reference to Spalding’s collaborative process in making music with not only fellow musicians, but also practitioners and researchers from fields such as neuroscience, music therapy, psychology, and ethnomusicology. The goal of these collaborations is to incorporate therapeutic processes into the music itself, and each track on the album is meant to have an intended effect on the listener. The intended effect of “Formwela 10” is as follows, according to a press release: “For grieving the consequences of, becoming more alert to, and dissolving one’s own romantic-entitlement tendencies.”

Spalding adds: “The well of this interdisciplinary mode of music creation is deep. we dip and dip and draw and draw and pour the best of what we find into each Formwela….” Information regarding the intended effect for each song on the new album can be found here.

The first half of the album was created in Wasco County and Portland, Oregon, featuring contributions from Wayne Shorter, Phoelix, Raphael Saadiq, Justin Tyson, Ganavya Doraiswamy and Corey King. The album’s second half is the result of a 10-day collaboration in her titular “Songwright’s Apothecary Lab” in New York, where her work was opened up to the public. It features contributions from drummer Francisco Mela, pianist Leo Genovese, guitarist Matthew Stevens, and saxophonist Aaron Burnett.

Songwright’s Apothecary Lab Tracklist:

1. Formwela 1 (Feat. Ganavya Doraiswamy)
2. Formwela 2
3. Formwela 3
4. Formwela 4 (Feat. Corey King)
5. Formwela 5 (Feat. Corey King)
6. Formwela 6 (Feat. Corey King)
7. Formwela 7
8. Formwela 8
9. Formwela 9
10. Formwela 10
11. Formwela 11
12. Formwela 13

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