Black Monument Ensemble is a group of artists, musicians, dancers, and singers led by Chicago-based creative force Damon Locks. Their new album, NOW, comes out digitally April 9th and on vinyl on July 9th. This album was recorded in a few takes outside at Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio at the end of the summer of 2020.
The first single from the new album, “NOW (Forever Momentary Space),” takes you on a journey. It begins with two quotes, one about this being the beginning and not the end, and one of a woman reminiscing about a dream she had in which she was running through a green forest, laughing and dancing with a friend/partner and both of them exchanging “I love yous”. As this quote ends, you hear what sounds like telephone buttons being pressed. Communication and joy undergird this song; you can hear it in the way the song builds, highlighting one incredible performer after another, coming together in a swell and slowly fading to the sound of cicadas, also communicating with one another (the cicada chirp is a mating call from male to female cicadas).
Knowing how, when, and where the album was recorded makes this exchange between performers all the more special; through this pandemic, we have largely been removed not only from live performances, but from collaborative, communal joy. This track is a welcome shock to the system, a necessary reminder that happiness, grief, dreams, creativity, love, and humanity in general are always best served through connection, and, most importantly, that a better future depends on it.
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