Seventeen years on from Outkast’s last album ‘Idlewild’, Andre 3000 is back with his first proper solo album, which is called ‘New Blue Sun’. Yes, that is the sort of thing it would be reasonable to get excited about.
Although, if you haven’t already heard, you should probably know that it’s an album of lengthy flute-led instrumentals. No, this is not a joke. The first track on the album is apologetically titled ‘I Swear, I Really Wanted To Make A ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time’.
An intriguing title, although not even close to matching the name of another track on the record, ‘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’.
Sounds like that’s a story that needs telling. Thankfully, while he isn’t rapping right now, he is talking quite a lot. Speaking to NPR, he explained: “I was actually in Hawaii and it was my second night of the first time I'd ever taken ayahuasca. We did it like a three-night kind of phase”.
“The first night was inviting and beautiful and the most powerful love and connection with all things I've ever felt in my life”, he went on. “The second night was different and everybody knows that aya will do you that way. The second night my stomach was hurting, my mouth contorted like a panther and I actually turned into a panther. And I was doing like ‘GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR’ - like, that kind of thing”.
Yeah, but he didn’t actually turn into a panther. “I actually turned into a panther”, he insists. “It was doing this thing called toning. Toning is another way of purging. And toning is where you make these vibrational noises that you can't control. It started playing me like an instrument. I started as a panther and then it would make me do these long kind of tones and started changing the notes”.
When it came to recording the new album, he says that he tried to recreate this experience. “So, on the album I'm mimicking [it]”, he explains. “That's what I'm talking about in that title”.
‘New Blue Sun’ is out now. Have a listen to ‘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’.