Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations have announced their new album I Came From Love will drop on April 14, 2023 via Transgressive Records. I Came From Love is a tapestry of the Black experience that explores ancestry, the legacy of slavery, what it means to exist in an unjust society, and Okumu’s own family history.

I Came From Love, features Eska, Kwabs, Wesley Joseph, Robert Stillman, Anthony Joseph, Byron Wallen, Raven Bush, and Grace Jones. Okumu has chosen the moniker ‘Dave Okumu & the 7 Generations’, which Okumu sees as “my actual ancestors, the ancestors of others, my musical ancestors, and my descendants”.

On the album Dave explains, “The narrative of this record emerged in tandem with the origin of its musical journey, through a rumination on survival, ancestry and heritage. The account of the young west African girl who was transported to South Carolina in 1756 and sold to the slave owner Elias Ball and the subsequent unearthing and presentation of her story to her descendants became an emblematic framework for these songs, opening doors to many aspects of the diasporic experience. The music stands in loving defiance of any forces that would seek to disconnect us from our collective history. As I consciously stand before my ancestors through the medium of this sound world, I proclaim that ‘You survived so I might live’”.

The lead-track “Blood Ah Go Run” which tackles the horror of the New Cross house fire in 1981 that killed 13 Black teenagers in South London. The lyrics reflect the Black community’s feelings of the time, crying out, “Blood ah go run / if no justice no come.”

On the track Dave adds, “Living in an area as culturally rich and diverse as southeast London, I feel touched by an atmosphere of transcendence forged through a particular type of adversity. When you walk the streets and so many cultures are represented within a community, it’s difficult not to ask the questions ‘how did these people get here and what have their ancestors passed through so that I can have the life I am experiencing now?’ The story of the New Cross Fire and the subsequent response from different factions of society is one such trial, embodying a process which came to shape a significant element of the discourse around race relations in this country. Living in this part of London, I want to remember and honor those who lost their lives in that fire as their sacrifice, along with many others, feeds directly into my experience of this world.”

Each chapter will be accompanied by a short film directed by Nicolas Premier, who worked across all the visuals on the project. The first film is “You Survived So I Might Live”.

Nicolas explains, “From the first time I listened to 7 Generations I’ve been stunned by its cinematographic potential and aesthetic. Also, the way Dave’s music encompasses a great diversity of sound sources is profoundly inspiring. It’s something we talked about from the start of our collaboration and I knew 7 generations would be one of those where things are said before being formulated because we speak the same language. I consider making films is about composing poetry with images and sounds and music often plays the role of the trigger as it did for You Survived So I Might Live.”

Okumu also is also a producer, session player, working in the past with artists including, Tony Allen, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Jessie Ware, and his hero Grace Jones.

Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations
I Came From Love
Trangressive/PIAS
Tracklisting

1. Things (ft. Grace Jones)
2. 7 Generations
3. Blood Ah Go Run
4. Streets
5. My Negritude
6. The Cost
7. Prison
8. Black Firework
9. Scenes
10. Amnesia
11. Get Out
12. Struggle
13. Eyes On Me
14. Abaka
15. Paradise (ft. Grace Jones)

Pre-order I Came From Love by Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations HERE