Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science have shared two new singles in honor of Juneteenth, both taken from the forthcoming collaborative album Trip the Night Fantastic. “Abolition Song” features civil rights activist Angela Y. Davis, rapper/percussionist Kassa Overall, and vocalist Debo Ray, while “Solidarity Song” features contributions from Miki Howard, Marc Ribot, and Larry Goldings.
“Both ‘Solidarity Song’ and ‘Abolition Song‘ speak to the spirit of Juneteenth and the struggle for justice in America,” Carrington says. ‘Solidarity Song,’ written by Matthew Stevens and myself, is a parody that sketches the interaction between two people of opposing views that starts off rocky, but ends well with an understanding that they have more in common than they thought and that ‘the system’ doesn’t really care about either of them. This is where we are now in our current political landscape. Understanding the struggle of others requires empathy, courage, and curiosity. Forces of division and distraction will always be present for fear of a solid unification of the working class.
“And ‘Abolition Song,’” she continues “is like an intro to the idea of rejecting the punitive justice system and replacing it with ideas of how to care for everyone so that this system becomes obsolete. The U.S. holds a disproportionate percentage of the world's prison population, disproportionately impacting low-income communities and people of color. The song asks, ‘Where is the love?’ When America decides to take care of all of its people, and rejects greed and hatred, the for-profit prison system will fall, allowing the focus to be on human dignity, transformative justice and systemic change.”
Regarding the collaboration, Miki Howard adds: “What a great pleasure it was to work with the legendary Terri Lyne Carrington in the studio on ‘Solidarity Song.’ Terri creates purposeful music. Music that not only inspires but documents the times. Music that will last forever. I’m impressed with the endless passion Terri brings to each song, the respect for the songs’ needs, abandoning the complaints of ‘critics’ or conventional restraints or commercialism. To serve the song is the goal. I know ‘Solidarity Song’ will be a timely offering and will inspire more love. Thank you Terri for sharing your love.”
Trip the Night Fantastic is out July 31 via Candid Records. Check out both singles below, and pre-order the new LP here.
