MAVI releases new album ‘shadowbox’
Following a years-long hiatus, Charlotte’s own MAVI has returned with his highly-anticipated third album shadowbox. The LP features an appearance from Michigan indie-R&B singer Malaya on “open waters” and arrives on the heels of recent singles “i’m so tired” as well as “drunk prayer”, the visuals for which marked MAVI’s first ever direction credits. Adorned in emotional, ultra-personal confessionals, the album follows the announcement of his forthcoming shadowbox tour, which kicks off in Raleigh, North Carolina, on September 7th and features MESSIAH! as support for the entirety of the tour as well as stints from PinkSiifu, Ovrkast., Chenayder, Vayda, Sideshow, Niontay, Igwe Aka, and Ahmir.
On the new album, in the words of MAVI:“I was really sad about the last album. I didn’t really know how to get back into making stuff into the way I like. I felt really hopeless about it, started getting really drunk, dealt with love and heartbreak, having to be there for my family. I had to come back and really learn how to make art all over again. My path back was centered around visual art, fashion, interior design, and design as an artistic framework and as an organizational force in society. A lot of the backbone of the album came from my time with this design book, ‘The Black Experience in Design.’ The idea I gained from that is design is power. The ability to determine the order of things, the way things are supposed to be…that’s power.
The orderliness in the lives of the devoutly religious became an attractive subtext during the creation of this album.”Rooted in autobiography, MAVI’s new album is bookended by raw vulnerability and soul-baring lyricism. The storybook success of his 2022 LP Laughing so Hard, it Hurts coincided with an onslaught of real-life problems, as MAVI battled the stark effects of grieving for a lost loved one, a messy breakup, and family issues — as well as the alcoholism and mental health struggles that soon followed. Inspired by substantial time spent in art museums during the making of the album, shadowbox is an unflinching portrait of this harrowing period in his life, as MAVI puts his heartbreak on full display, faces his struggles head-on — and often finds that he’s shadow-boxing himself.Please find links to stream shadowbox and get tickets to the upcoming tour below, and stay tuned for more announcements to come:
SHADOWBOX LP – OUT NOW
LISTEN
Tracklist:
01. 20,000 leagues (prod. Beach Noise)
02. open waters (feat. Malaya) (prod. Psymun)
03. i did (prod. Twotone)
04. i’m so tired (prod. Lil Chick)
05. tether (prod. Alexander Spit)
06. the sky is quiet (prod. Jacob Rochester)
07. latch (prod. Twotone)
08. grindstone (prod. Twotone)
09. drown the snake prelude
10. drunk prayer (prod. Angelo LeRoi)
11. the giver (prod. Beach Noise)
12. too much to zelle (prod. Stoic)
13. testimony (prod. Ben10k, Danes Blood, and Tom Levesque)
14. my own way (prod. Monte Booker)
THE SHADOWBOX TOUR – KICKING OFF 9/7
Tour Dates
09/07 – Raleigh, NC – Hopscotch Music Festival
09/12 – New York City, NY– Webster Hall
09/13 – Washington, D.C. – Howard Theatre
09/14 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
09/17 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
09/18 – Montreal, QC – Theatre Fairmont
09/19 – Toronto, CA – Axis Live/The Opera House
09/20 – Detroit, MI – El Club
09/22 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
09/25 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line
09/26 – Omaha, NE – Reverb
09/28 – Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck
09/30 – Denver, CO – Summit
10/02 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
10/04 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
10/05 – Vancouver, CA – Pearl Theatre
10/07 – Portland, OR – The Aladdin
10/09 – Sacramento, CA – Harlows
10/10 – Oakland, CA – The New Parish
10/11 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey/Goldenvoice
10/19 – Phoenix, AZ – Viva PHX Festival
11/08 – Orlando, FL – The Abbey
11/09 – Charlotte, NC – The Underground
11/10 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm
11/13 – London, GB – Scala
11/15 – Dublin, IE – The Workman’s Club
11/17 – Amsterdam, NL – Bitterzoet
11/18 – Paris, FR – La Bellivouise
11/19 – Lisbon, PT – B.Leza
11/22 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
11/23 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
12/03 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall
12/04 – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger
12/05 – Austin, TX – Parish
12/06 – Dallas, TX – Tulips
12/08 – Nashville, TN – The Cannery
While MAVI is widely-praised for his mindful rhymes and evocative instrumentals, the Charlotte-born wordsmith is also a multi-faceted renaissance man whose expertise extends far beyond the mic. An artist as thought-provoking as he is creative, MAVI pursued a degree in biology from Howard University and is an avid political theorist and community-oriented activist who holds steadfast beliefs about the ever-changing social landscape around him. In 2019, he released his critically-acclaimed debut album Let The Sun Talk, a quilt of generational tales, tightly woven flows, and awe-inspiring rhymes. Following the success of Let The Sun Talk, he returned with the stellar 5-song EP, End of The Earth, which featured fan-favorites like “TIME TRAVEL” and “THOUSAND MILES” alongside a Lone Wolf-directed visual, before hitting the road on tour in the tail-end of 2021, accompanying Jack Harlow on his headlining Cremé De La Cremé tour alongside Detroit bar spitter Babyface Ray. 2022 saw him return with his critically-acclaimed sophomore album Laughing so Hard, it Hurts, which was lauded by the likes of Pitchfork, NPR, and The New York Times, who hailed it as one of the Best Albums of 2022. Only adding to his unique stature, MAVI is also a fully independent and financially self-sufficient artist, bringing a certain level of incomparable urgency to his work. Now, after years of reflecting, contemplating, and of course, rapping––MAVI has returned with his highly-anticipated third LP shadowbox — out now.
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