Black Decelerant - Reflections Vol. 2: Black Decelerant (RVNG Intl.) [ambient]

The Slow Music Movement
Jun 23, 2024
1 min read

The cover for Black Decelerant's Reflections Vol. 2 album showing the duo silhouetted with musical instruments in a grey-toned setting. Text reads: "Reflections Vol. 2 Black Decelerant."

Interestingly the last few years has seen more female and ethnically diverse artists dabbling or specializing in ambient music to genre enriching effect. Black Decelerant (Contour and Omari Jazz) are the latest; ditching their beat anchored tendencies to bring machine led improvisational jazz vibes & Black experiences to the sofas and headphones of the open minded and horizontally inclined, via RVNG Intl.

The members of Black Decelerant in a black-and-white photo, one with a beard, the other with long hair, gazing thoughtfully under a cloudy sky. Moody ambiance.

What The Release Notes Say

For the second volume of Reflections, Black Decelerant, the duo of Khari Lucas, aka Contour, and Omari Jazz, explore improvisational jazz traditions through contemporary tone and texture, fostering sonic meditations on themes of Black being and nonbeing, life and mourning, expansion and limitation, and the individual and collective. The Black Decelerant collaboration, and intention, creates space for listeners to be still, while providing a basis for a movement beyond “the moment.”

Credits

All songs written, produced, arranged, and recorded by Khari Lucas and Omari Jazz Addae

All songs mixed by Omari Jazz Addae

Trumpet on “Two” and “Eight” by Jawwaad A. Taylor

Recordings made using: Ableton Live, Prophet Rev2, Korg Minilogue XL, Ibanez Soundgear Bass, and Peavey Reactor Guitar

Mastered by Stephan Mathieu for Schwebung Mastering (Bonn, Germany)

Lacquers cut by Clint Holley for Well Made Music (Bristol, Virginia)

Cover photography by Lauren Davis

Design by Will Work For Good

“seven 1/2" uses dialogue extracted from an episode of the Black Journal, the first nationally televised public affairs program produced for, about, and (eventually) by African-Americans. Administered by the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB).