Grammy-nominated harpist Brandee Younger has released a new two-track digital single called Unrest.
The new release follows Younger’s very positively received debut album Somewhere Different, released in 2021. It was named one of JAZZ.FM91’s top albums of the year.
The album has since garnered her a NAACP Image Award nomination for outstanding instrumental jazz album and a Grammy nomination for best instrument composition for the song Beautiful is Black.
Listen to Unrest below.
On Unrest, Younger reflects on the protests against police brutality and racial violence that spread across the United States and many other parts of the world in the summer of 2020.
Aiming to sonically capture that unprecedented moment, Unrest is an emotionally charged and socially conscious work, conveying the turmoil felt by a nation confronting its ongoing history.
“One thing is true for every person hearing this piece: We’ve all witnessed unrest as the nation grapples with its past and present — all in the midst of quarantine and major political change,” Younger says.
With a grant from the Jazz Coalition, Younger recorded Unrest at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey.
Building upon the standards set by jazz harpists Alice Coltrane and Dorthy Ashby before her, Brandee Younger has established her career by confidently walking between the worlds of jazz and mainstream music. Younger has worked with jazz leaders and popular hip-hop and R&B contemporaries including Ravi Coltrane, Kanye West, Maxwell, John Legend, Pharoah Sanders, Makaya McCraven, Common and Lauryn Hill.