André Cymone Releases Politically Charged New Album '1969'
André Cymone, one of the founding members of Prince’s original Revolution band, has just released his new project, 1969.
The album is extremely politically charged, with songs titled "Black Man In America" and "Black Lives Matter" featured. The album's title track is a dazzling acoustic track in which André tries to reckon with another police shooting.
The themes on the album are political. But the music itself is just good ole' fashioned great-sounding rock music. Speaking about the album with Huffington Post recently, André says this:
“The basic concept of this album was to satisfy a dream that I had as an 11-year-old kid. I used to hear psychedelic Rock like Hendrix, The Byrds, The Beatles, The Monkeys, The Stones and it spoke to me. I thought it was the coolest music I had ever heard.
I used to wish I could make music like that. Through the years obviously music had changed and my taste changed as well but I always went back to the classics, so I thought. I’ve been an artist signed to labels that wanted me to focus on what they thought would sell. Then I became a producer and helped other artists realize their dreams.
I thought, now that the music industry found a way to shoot themselves in the foot, and artists can just put music out that satisfies their soul, I decided to live my childhood dream in the form of reflection, so I went back to 1969.”
Stream or download André's new album at Bandcamp now.