''Stings'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English musician

Kamaal Williams Kamaal Williams (born Henry Wu, 1989) is a British musician and record producer. He began his career producing house and broken beat music as Henry Wu, but rose to prominence with drummer Yussef Dayes as Yussef Kamaal, releasing their only album ...

, released on 27 September 2023 under Black Focus Records.

Background

According to Williams, ''Stings'' "integrate more oriental imagery and add more melodic elements." Williams reportedly began composing the album on a newly purchased

upright piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The album was recorded in Los Angeles and Chicago in early 2022.

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, session musician, arranger, composer, music director, producer, DJ, orchestral conductor and educator. He has contributed to over 500 recordings and scored for television and fi ...

features on the record as an arranger. The visuals for ''Stings'' were designed by Sascha Lobe and Kimberly Lloyd. On 29 March 2023, Williams gave an exclusive performance of the album's songs at a

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

store in London. The song "PKKNO" was released alongside the track listing announcement of ''Stings''. According to ''

XLR8R ''XLR8R'' (pronounced "accelerator") is a website that covers music, culture, style, and technology. It was originally also a print magazine. History and profile ''XLR8R'' was founded as a newsprint zine in 1993 by publisher Andrew Smith in Sea ...

'', ''Stings'' "is rooted in the South London jazz scene that birthed illiams but "levitates into the impressionist symphonies of

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

, nd hip-hop and

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

beats."

Reception

''Passion of the Weiss'' ranked the album at number 31 in its Best Albums of 2023 list.

Track listing

Tracks 1-10 and 11-13 are split into separate discs in

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

and

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

References

{{reflist 2023 albums Kamaal Williams albums