Benjamin Booker Announces Kenny Segal-produced LOWER, First Album in 7 Years

This morning, Best of What’s Next alum Benjamin Booker announced his new album, LOWER, due out January 24 via Thirty Tigers. The LP marks Booker’s first full-length release in seven years, after 2017’s pragmatic Witness, which Paste contributor Hilary Saunders called “a reminder that our greatest chances for success happen when we have are when we grow and change together.” LOWER was produced by Kenny Segal, the rap mastermind known for his collaborations with billy woods and Armand Hammer, the latter of which released a song, “Doves,” with Booker this year. Today, we named “Doves” one of the best songs of the 2020s so far. “Kenny was the missing piece I needed,” Booker says. “He fills in all of my gaps. I don’t know what I’ll do next, but if I can imagine it, I can do it now.”

The announcement of LOWER comes with lead single “LWA IN THE TRAILER PARK,” which Booker says is about a “troubled character on the edge, reaching for transcendence.” Inspired by Paul Schrader’s writing and the work of Jean-Pierre Melville and Charles Burnett, the first chapter of Booker’s return is a truly magnificent blend of explosive, spiritual blues rock and sprawling, ambient-injected rap experiments. Watch the video for “LWA IN THE TRAILER PARK” below.

LOWER Artwork:

LOWER Tracklist:
BLACK OPPS
LWA IN THE TRAILER PARK
POMPEII STATUES
SLOW DANCE IN A GAY BAR
SPEAKING WITH THE DEAD
REBECCA LATIMER FELTON TAKES A BBC
NEW WORLD
SAME KIND OF LONELY
SHOW AND TELL
HEAVY ON MY MIND
HOPE FOR THE NIGHT