When The Poems Do What They Do

Description

Aja Monet's poems are a gravitational work. They serve as a foundation around which all things are drawn, considered, and implemented. Her work constantly shifts between origin and outcome, allowing them to exist in conversation. In her debut album, When the poems do what they do, we glimpse her tireless attachment to words. The thematic origins of this album are sometimes centered on Black resistance, love, and the unending quest for joy. In When the poems do what they do, Aja Monet appears as a woman of letters and storm; her poems do not roar in pentameter—but rather in a surge, for who has time to make poems when the world is on fire? And this work is not one that can be summarized in a single line; it consists of poems about felt experiences. Aja Monet is both a griot, a storyteller, a chronicler, and that grandmother who tells you about her first love. As is her custom, Aja Monet creates a work that can be accessed through many doors. These are not poems for poets, but poems for everyone. On this album, she is accompanied by musicians Christian Scott (trumpet), Samora Pinderhughes (piano), Elena Pinderhughes (flute), Luques Curtis (bass), Weedie Braimah (djembe), and Marcus Gilmore (drums). Together, they create insistent and relentless music. Some tracks evoke the virtuosity and mingling of jazz clubs, while others provide a balm of healing. Pressed on double vinyl.