moses boyd serves up a new single that’s “stranger than fiction”

I’ve always been impressed by the instrumentalist’s ability to convey meaning and feeling without words. Think of Alice Coltrane conveying a transcendent serenity via harp strings or Miles Davis giving us bittersweet melancholy via his trumpet. South London’s Moses Boyd is an artist in the tradition of expressive genre-bending (and jumping) musicians before him. A two-time MOBO Award winner Boy isn’t just an expert jazz drummer, he’s a producer and composer who has blessed everyone from Sampha and Little Simz to Gqom superstar DJ Lag with his talents.

Today he’s back with his first release since 2018’s Displace Diaspora, “Stranger Than Fiction” and the feeling he’s trying to convey is urgency via swelling horns and percussion inflected with Afrobeat and techno rhythms.

“We’re in a time where the state of our politics, environment, and news feel more like an alternate reality, he says. “And sadly, the truth is often stranger than fiction.” We can only hope that the track signals more to come from the multifaceted musician.