You hear a lot of artists say every project is a journey. That’s more true of Genesis Owusu’s new album than most.
The long road — and many flights — that led to Redstar Wu & The Worldwide Scourge (out May 15) started in Australia, where Owusu lives and first conceived the record. Then it was off to Wales to record in a renovated church with producer Dann Hume before heading to Ghana, where Owusu was born and his parents currently live, to record the video for advance single “Stampede.”
The 15-track album is an intense reflection of the current political, social and economic times in which we all live. It dips in and out of different genres within the confines of individual songs, something Owusu explained during our conversation. “The songs touch on so many sonic touchpoints, he siad. “There’s funk, there’s soul, there’s indie-pop, there’s hip-hop, industrial — all kinds of different sounds.”
The former church that housed the recording process was reconstructed to have a studio and two living spaces for Hume and Owusu, who didn’t listen to any other music during the recording process. “It was a pretty organic experience for me and Dann,” Owusu recalled. “I think we both just have been listening to so much music our entire lives that we just have internal encyclopedias as to what sound fits what mood. So we weren’t listening to much else.”
As for what did fuel the new album, you can find out by listening to our conversation using the player at the top of the page.
