The Film (CD)

What happens when you combine SUMAC: a band that uses the volume, distortion, and guitar-centric approach of metal to make music that has the malleability of jazz and textural exploration of noise with Moor Mother: a poet and sound artist that has deconstructed hip hop to a point where it’s less about rhyme and rhythm (though obviously both are present in her work) and more about oratorical cadence and power. The Film is an album that takes attributes of both artists’ work and fnds common ground in shifting musical patterns, and expressive force. The record is a musical thumbing of their noses at the more traditional approaches of their respective felds, an innovative, powerhouse of an album.

The Film’s moniker speaks to the fact that it is conceived and delivered as a complete album, a full story or narrative. Moor Mother puts it best: “The idea is to create a moment outside of the convention. This is a work of art. Thinking about the work as a Film, instead of an album or a collection of songs. This task is impossible in an industry that wants to force everything into a box of consumption. You won’t understand or get the full picture until the artwork is completed. This work is developing and is requesting more agency within the creative process.” The Film does have clear themes running throughout – again Moor Mother expounds: “the themes are universal in nature – land – displacement – the climate – human rights and freedoms – war and peace – the idea of running away from the many violent forces and horrifc systems of man and empire.”

Heavy, holy, hypnotizing – beyond existence, beyond the fettered constraints of normality, past the false notions of the indoctrinated disguised as the organic, planets form; the detritus of cosmic stuff merges into galaxies, into something that can sound like it’s populated by suns. The Film is just such a work, a nebulitic collaboration between SUMAC and Moor Mother.

The Film was recorded at Studio Litho in Seattle with Scott Evans. The album includes appearances by guest vocalists Kyle Kidd, Sovie, and Candice Hoyes. SUMAC and Moor Mother will be playing select dates worldwide together, including a performance at Roadburn Festival just ahead of album release. This double album is packaged in a custom obi designed by Aaron Turner featuring paintings by Turner and art concepts by Moor Mother.