John Carroll Kirby releases new single ‘Sun Go Down’
John Carroll Kirby (Photo credit - Sela Shiloni)
Listen to ‘Sun Go Down’ here
Watch the video here
John Carroll Kirby’s new song ‘Sun Go Down’, taken from his forthcoming solo album Blowout, is out now.
Blowout came about after John Carroll Kirby spent time in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica in 2021, where he went to film an episode of his travelog Kirby’s Gold with the Kawe Calypso Band. He wrote Blowout there, later finishing the record with a band at 64 Sound Studios in L.A. “Sun Go Down” is a joyful three-chord jam written in the glow of Costa Rica’s psychedelic sunsets.
Kirby cites Hermeto Pascoal’s famous performance of ‘Música Da Lagoa’ as a major influence. In the performance, the renowned Brazilian jazz musician and an ensemble play flutes and wine bottles under a waterfall. Pascoal’s immersion in nature and stripping away of formality informs “just about everything I do,” Kirby says. A similar playfulness is at the heart of ‘Sun Go Down’ and its video, in which Kirby and bandmates play shadow instruments in a colorful faux-tropical setting. But wherever there’s joy, melancholy is never far away: “I love the concept of saudade,” Kirby says. For every moment of elation, “there's a certain sadness embedded in the feeling because we know it will have to come to an end.”
‘Blowout’ can be defined as either a moment of destruction or one big party, and Blowout plays with both meanings. The album was inspired by “failed utopias” like the Heaven’s Gate cult and Fyre Festival, and the myths that sprang up around them. Kirby says, “I'm trying to use imagination in music to create my own myths, and keep things playful and funny and not too sanctimonious.” While by no means a calypso record, Blowout is “inspired by the spirit of the music” Kirby encountered in Central America, as well as its nature; ‘Oropendola’, released last month, takes its title from the birds that woke him up every morning.
In addition to releasing his own music, Kirby’s a sought-after collaborator who’s worked with Yves Tumor, Laraaji, Liv.e, Remi Wolf and Eddie Chacon, earned a Grammy nod for Steve Lacy’s hit “Bad Habit”, and recently collaborated with Solange and Steve Lacy for Summer Walker’s new EP. But it’s on his solo records that Kirby’s personality shines through, and Blowout is alive with the refreshing breeziness, warmth, and blend of humor and devotion that make his music so addictive.
John Carroll Kirby on Tour:
June 20 - Portland - Holocene †
June 22 - Vancouver - Fortune Sound †
June 28 - San Francisco - The Chapel †
July 30 - Yuzawa - Fuji Rock †
Aug 18 - Los Angeles - Lodge Room
Aug 24 - New York - Bowery Ballroom
Aug 26 - Port Townsend - Thing Festival
† with Eddie Chacon
1. Oropendola
2. Mates
3. The Takedown
4. Hotel Jonny Chingas
5. Vertigo
6. So So So
7. Sun Go Down
8. Gecko Sound
9. Flying Cat
10. Mates (Dub)
11. So So So (Dub)
12. Hotel Jonny Chingas (Dub)
About John Carroll Kirby
John Carroll Kirby is an artist, producer, composer and keyboardist from Los Angeles. Though Kirby's background is steeped in jazz, his signature sound blends genres and styles. An in-demand collaborator for artists ranging from superstars Solange, Frank Ocean and Harry Styles to indie musicians Yves Tumor, Connan Mockasin, Liv.e, and many more, Kirby has lately focused on his own solo output, releasing five LPs on Stones Throw in three years.
My Garden (2020), a blend of jazz and exotica, was praised by The Fader, LA Times, Q, and Mojo. The same year, Kirby released Conflict, a calming piano album in response to the year’s chaos. Following his first film score for the animated feature Cryptozoo, Kirby’s 2021 jazz-fusion release Septet marked a return to ensemble playing, while Dance Ancestral (2022), with additional production from Canadian artist YuSu, took a more electronic-forward approach.
Alongside these records, Kirby has released episodes of Kirby’s Gold, a web series inspired by Huell Howser’s California Gold. In the series, Kirby chats and improvises with artists ranging from painter Ariana Papademetropoulos to an Eastern European choir. Kirby recently received a Grammy nod for his work on Steve Lacy’s hit “Bad Habit”, and in March 2023, Stones Throw released Sundown, his album-length collaboration with “lowkey R&B legend” Eddie Chacon.
