British spoken word artist, rapper, poet, novelist, and playwright Kae Tempest has revealed their new single “More Pressure” with Kevin Abstract. The song is from their upcoming album The Line Is A Curve set for release on April 8th via American Recordings/Republic Records.
The Line Is A Curve is the fourth album from the Lewisham-based artist and has been produced by long term collaborator Dan Carey alongside executive production by Rick Rubin.
Featuring artwork shot by renowned photographer Wolfgang Tillmans (Frank Oceans’ blond), the album is best described by Tempest themselves:
“‘The Line Is A Curve’ is about letting go. Of shame, anxiety, isolation and falling instead into surrender. Embracing the cyclical nature of time, growth, love. This letting go can hopefully be felt across the record. In the musicality, the instrumentation, the lyricism, the delivery, the cover art. In the way it ends where it begins and begins where it ends. I knew I wanted my face on the sleeve. Throughout the duration of my creative life, I have been hungry for the spotlight and desperately uncomfortable in it. For the last couple of records, I wanted to disappear completely from the album covers, the videos, the front-facing aspects of this industry. A lot of that was about my shame but I masked it behind a genuine desire for my work to speak for itself, without me up front, commodifying what felt so rare to me and sacred. I was, at times, annoyed that in order to put the work out, I had to put myself out. But this time around, I understand it differently. I want people to feel welcomed into this record, by me, the person who made it, and I have let go of some of my airier concerns. I feel more grounded in what I’m trying to do, who I am as an artist and as a person and what I have to offer. I feel less shame in my body because I am not hiding from the world anymore. I wanted to show my face, and I dreamed of it being Wolfgang Tillmans who took the portrait.”