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The second album from Grammy-nominated Haitian-American singer and composer Nathalie Joachim, Ki moun ou ye will be released via the partnership between Nonesuch and New Amsterdam Records. Across the record’s ten intimate, original songs, Joachim ponders its title’s question: “Who are you?” Inspired by the remote Caribbean farmland that her family continues to call home after seven generations, Ki moun ou ye travels deeper into the Haitian heritage introduced on Joachim’s Grammy-nominated 2019 New Amsterdam release, Fanm d’Ayiti.
Performed in English and Haitian Creole, the work examines the richness of the human voice - an instrument that brings with it DNA, ancestry, and identity - in a vibrant tapestry of Joachim’s voice and intricately sampled vocal textures, underscored by Joachim’s flute playing, violin from Yvonne Lam (Eighth Blackbird), and drums by Jason Treuting (Sō Percussion). Ki moun ou ye explores Joachim’s personal history while highlighting her voice’s role as a tool for survival, healing, preservation of self, fellowship, and an affirmation of freedom.
Joachim says of the album and song title, “Creole as a language almost always has a primary, literal meaning of what’s being said plus a secondary layer of understanding, and sometimes even a tertiary level. ‘Ki moun ou ye’ can be very simply asking, ‘Who are you?’ But it also means, ‘Whose people are you?’ And it can also mean, ‘Which person are you.’” She continues, “For me, it led to, ‘Who am I actually?’ Not just on a performative level, but also as a Black person in spaces where I constantly have to code-switch. It’s a deep question. It isn’t casual
Tracklist
1. The Gate
2. The Tower
3. Collapsing Mouth
4. Unscrolling
5. Desiderat
6. Incarnadine
7. Tailhead
8. Ultramarine