International Anthem has today announced trumpeter and composter jaimie branch’s third and final album, Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)), which will be released posthumously on August 25. The first single, ‘take over the world’, is out today alongside a video directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Jon Philpot. Check it out below.
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) was recorded in April 2022 during branch’s residency at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha, Nebraska. When branch passed away in August 2022, the album was nearly completed, and in the months following, her family (led by her sister Kate Branch), bandmates – Lester St. Louis, Jason Ajemian, and Chad Taylor – and collaborators at International Anthem gathered together to to finish the record.
On the abum’s liner notes, branch’s bandmates wrote: “jaimie never had small ideas. She always thought big. The minute you told her she couldn’t do something, or that something would be too difficult to accomplish, the more determined and focused she became. And this album is big. Far bigger and more demanding — for us, and for you — than any other Fly or Die record. For this, jaimie wanted to play with longer forms, more modulations, more noise, more singing, and as always, grooves and melodies. She was a dynamic melodicist. jaimie wanted this album to be lush, grand and full of life, just as she was. Every time we take a listen, we feel the deep imprint of her all over the music, and we see all of us making it together.”
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) will follow branch’s solo debut, 2017’s Fly or Die, 2019’s Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise, as well as 2021’s Fly or Die Live.
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) Cover Artwork:
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) Tracklist:
1. aurora rising
2. borealis dancing
3. burning grey
4. the mountain
5. baba louie
6. bolinko bass
7. and kuma walks
8. take over the world
9. world war ((reprise))
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