BLACK PUMAS

When Black Pumas released their self-titled debut in 2019, the Austin duo elicited enthusiastic responses that were as searing and stirring as their music itself. In addition to earning a total of seven Grammy Award nominations (including Best New Artist and Album Of The Year), singer/songwriter Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada enjoyed outstanding success as a live act, touring halls worldwide and delivering a transcendent show that Burton aptly describes as "electric church." This meteoric rise naturally raised expectations for the second album to unimagined heights. Black Pumas felt the same when they entered the studio. So they switched off every expectation and started all over again. Above all, they thought only of themselves, as Burton describes it, "More than anything, we wanted to produce something that we would be happy to play live 200 days a year. I wanted to be able to laugh, cry, bob my head and do my thing: It was all a very selfish endeavor." So the band expanded its palette to include a dazzling range of musical forms: celestial hybrids of soul and symphonic pop, startling excursions into jazz-funk and psychedelia, starry-eyed love songs that feel as if they've been dropped from the cosmos. Wilder, crazier and more extravagantly composed than its predecessor, "Chronicles Of A Diamond" has become the comprehensive expression of the Black Pumas' unbridled creativity and boundless vision. The ten songs keep following this exuberant imagination in unexpected directions. Burton and Quesada, it is fair to say, already belong to the legendary songwriting duos of music after their second record. In production, they have drawn on their intuitive understanding and elevated their artistry to a whole new level. With "Chronicles Of A Diamond," Black Pumas have delivered a second masterpiece. In March they come to us to play it live.Presented by Rolling Stone and kulturnews. -