Experimental composers Nicole Mitchell and Lisa E. Harris collaborate on new LP, EarthSeed

Featuring the 5-member Black Earth Ensemble band, with Ben LaMar Gay on trumpet.

Nicole Mitchell and Lisa E. Harris are releasing a new collaborative album, titled EarthSeed, via FPE records this June.

The LP draws inspiration from Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1996) novels, both of which similarly explore a world consumed by greed and the struggle to overcome that.

EarthSeed was recorded live at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017 with Mitchell’s band the Black Earth Ensemble – Julian Otis on vocals, Zara Zaharieva on violin, Ben LaMar Gay on trumpet/electronics, Tomeka Reid on cello, and Avreeayl Ra on percussion – alongside Harris on vocals/theremin/electronics and Mitchell on flute/electronics.

EarthSeed is the third of Mitchell’s albums inspired by the literature of Butler – following Xenogenesis Suite (2008) and Intergalactic Beings (2014) – and marks her first compositional collaboration with Harris.

Head here to pre-order a copy in advance of EarthSeed’s 26th June release, check out the artwork and tracklist below.

Tracklist:

2. Whispering Flame

3. Biotic Seeds

4. Yes and Know

5. Ownness

6. Moving Mirror

7. Whole Black Collision

8. Phallus and Chalice

9. Fluids of Time

10. Elemental Crux