The fact that André 3000, formerly one half of the rap duo Outkast, has developed a weakness for flutes became public in 2019 when a viral photo showed him with a double flute at the Los Angeles airport. When the improvisational album New Blue Sun was released in 2023 – eight instrumental tracks between ambient, new age and spiritual jazz – the astonishment was great. No rap, no singing, but a lot of atmosphere.
Shortly before recording, filmmaker Dexter Navy accompanied him on a documentary about moving house – a situation that became the sonic basis for the title track, Moving Day: a meditative collage of flutes, spoken word, rattling textures and noisy details. The second track, Day Moving, is the same piece played backwards – and yet it seems like a completely different composition: cooler, more distant, but just as rich in detail. The album closes with Tunnels of Egypt, a previously unreleased track from the New Blue Sun sessions, which ties in more with the spiritual jazz appeal of the album than the others.
Moving Day
