This year in the Album of the Year category at the Grammy Awards, there are the expected faces: Beyonce, Charli XCX, and Chappell Roan. But out of nowhere comes the debut solo album of former OutKast member André 3000, “New Blue Sun.” An experimental ambient flute album appeared alongside some of the biggest names in pop music; it is the first instrumental album to be nominated for Album of the Year since John Williams’ score for “Star Wars” was nominated in 1978.
When OutKast released “Speakerboxxx / The Love Below” it was clear that André and Big Boi had creative differences regarding their sound. Big Boi wanted to stay true to their Atlanta roots, while André wanted to expand their sound into a more neo-soul and jazz-influenced direction. Even after they decided to break up in 2007, there was no sign of any consistent musical output from André 3000.
André announced “New Blue Sun” in November 2023. This time around, he made one thing very clear: “no bars.” A man known for his lyrical acrobatics and ability to ride a beat was leaving that all behind for his debut album.
André reinforces this with the first of many lengthy track titles like, “I swear, I Really Wanted To Make A “Rap” Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time.” The track is an ethereal meditation on the usage of the flute and an entrancing introduction to the 87-minute project.
But flute is far from the only instrument that appears on the record. Bass guitar, cymbals, chimes, synths, and strings all play crucial supporting roles fleshing out the atmosphere of the album. This is prevalent in songs like, “BuyPoloDisorder’s Daughter Wears a 3000™ Button Down Embroidered,” where the synths serve as the backbone for the most sonically adventurous song on the album.
While not the main selling point of the album, it does have roots in the field of free jazz, which are most evident on the nearly 14-minute track, “That Night in Hawaii When I Turned Into a Panther and Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control … Sh¥t Was Wild.” Like a long walk in the rainforest, the track lets itself wander as instruments seamlessly come in and out, but it always finds its way back to the trodden path of the core flute motif.
On first listen it sounds like background music. However, this album is best when observed on a micro level. For example, the piano which drives the first half of “Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy” seems to fade out around the halfway point, but there are remaining flutters deep in the background which add a lightness to the song. It is the little elements like these that make the album feel so natural and one with the world around it.
The album’s closer, “Dreams Once Buried Beneath the Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens,” stands at 17 minutes and it warrants every second of it. Tension slowly builds as prior instruments used are recalled for one final performance. There are slight pops and cracks embedded in the track, almost as if it is playing on vinyl. The song reaches its pinnacle near the 13:30 mark, bringing forth every instrument for the peak climactic moment of the album. It seems a fitting conclusion given the song’s title. The song reminisces on his coming up in Atlanta and making music in the “Dungeon” studio, as well as being a curtain call on André’s first foray into this new field and chapter of life.
But the fact that this is the only climactic song on the record does leave much to be desired. There is not much of an arc across the record. Sonically it moves from sound to sound, track to track, but because of the album’s large range, the different musical genres and themes brought in lacked exploration past a surface level. “Ninety Three to Infinity and Beyonce” has these deep electronic percussion hits but being the shortest song on the album, the idea does not even get the opportunity to come to fruition. With no real intention behind track sequencing, with the exception of the opener and closers, “New Blue Sun” gets stale after the 87-minute runtime.
However, there is something promising here. This is an exciting step in André’s storied career and it is only going up from here. André recently appeared on Kamasi Washington’s fantastic spiritual jazz album “Fearless Movement.” If he continues to integrate his new sound with the best and brightest in jazz today, André 3000 is poised to make a late-career resurgence in the coming years.
