*announcing* JAMIRE WILLIAMS - But Only After You Have Suffered // new LP out October 29th

*announcing*
IARC0046

Jamire Williams

But Only After You Have Suffered

LP / CD / Digital album out October 29th

After years of collaboration and kindred alliance – dating back to his contributions on Jeff Parker's 2016 LP The New Breed, and our 2017 presentations of his solo drum poetry at Chicago's Constellation and the Stony Island Arts Bank – we are proud to share, at last, the International Anthem debut of multidisciplinary artist, composer, percussionist & producer Jamire Williams.
But Only After You Have Suffered.

preview & pre-order
via our Bandcamp page TODAY

((( photo by Asia Nicole Williams )))

Conceived as a spiritual, autobiographical artistic statement, Jamire applies sound collage practice to modern jazz composition, beat production, MC/vocalist features, and his uniquely impressionistic drumming style – making an album as akin to minimalist painting as an art-house film soundtrack or a classic hip-hop mixtape. A “self-reflective, almost testimonial work” that swiftly cycles across a vast spectrum of styles, it's the culmination of his five-year musical journey to the outer reaches of his own sound. It’s the album he's always wanted to make.

To do so he engages his faith and the friends and family that shaped him, working with a host of close collaborators in a free and spontaneous manner. The shared musical, communal, and spiritual sensibility gives the album its sense of unity. “It’s a whole work,” Jamire explains. “It flows seamlessly, and it’s meant to keep playing until you really understand all the messages, prayers, and cries.”

Across twelve multi-faceted tracks, he brings together artists from his hometown of Houston (vocalists Corey King, Lisa E. Harris, Fat Tony, Jawwaad Taylor), those he became close to over several years living in LA (Sam Gendel, Zeroh, Mic Holden, Josh Johnson, fellow International Anthem artist Carlos Niño), and other creative partners from his life-long journey in sound (Chassol, Svet, Kenneth Whalum).

As such, But Only After You Have Suffered builds its own world from the pull between Jamire’s jazz heritage - eleven years as a drummer in NYC recording with world-renowned musicians like Jason Moran, Christian Scott, and Dr. Lonnie Smith - and the experimental, narrative art-pop of his more recent work with Solange, Moses Sumney, and Blood Orange.

Its origins can also be traced to his 2016 solo percussion album /////// Effectual (released by Leaving Records) - a turning point for Jamire, who has since embarked on a process of stripping back and breaking down his musical identity, creating a new sound from the fragments that most speak to his experience as a musician and a person.

Rooted in his faith, Jamire opens the album with “Hands Up,” a devotional hymn cut against the stark reality of the modern world that sounds like an apocalyptic transmission of Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly via Merry Clayton’s “Gimme Shelter.” Whether in the rousing, spiritual “Just Hold On” or the fluid verses of Fat Tony on “Safe Travels,” the music exists in the tension between higher realms and social realities - what Jamire calls the “duality of a personal thing and what I’m seeing in my community, in the Black community, as a Black man.”

The album reaches its climax on “Pause In His Presence,” which features a chilling operatic performance from Lisa E. Harris, recorded in one take off the back of a single conversation and a shared vision between the two artists. “Every time I hear that song, I cry,” Jamire says. “It’s so real.”

Having recently moved back to Houston, the release of But Only After You Have Suffered marks a moment of Jamire coming full circle. A literal homecoming and his arrival as an undeniably multi-faceted artist in his own right.

preview & pre-order
But Only After You Have Suffered

((( photo by Asia Nicole Williams )))

Jamire Williams is a multidisciplinary artist who functions in the medium of music performance, performance art, composition, and still life sculptures. His practice focuses on faith, spirituality, roots and the evidence of those things which are not seen.

His list of collaborators is high in prestige, including Solange Knowles, Kara Walker, Jason Moran, Dev Hynes, Robert Glasper, Julie Mehretu, Moses Sumney, Kahlil Joseph, Jamal Cyrus, Ari Marcopoulos, Christian Scott, Jeff Parker, and Chassol.

Williams has a deep resume as a recording artist, and has distinguished himself across avant-garde, jazz, and indie music genres seamlessly. His 2016 lead-artist effort ///// EFFECTUAL is a powerful solo percussion statement that established his affinity for minimalism, his approach of the drum kit as a canvas for "painting," and his embrace of abstraction as a holistic practice in sound. He has been a touring drummer for Blood Orange since 2018. He was a featured performer at The Whitney Museum for Jason Moran’s exhibition Jazz On A High Floor In The Afternoon. He is featured on several International Anthem albums – both Jeff Parker's The New Breed (2016) and Suite for Max Brown (2020), and Carlos Niño's recently-released More Energy Fields, Current.

Jamire was a key contributor, composer and producer on Solange’s critically-acclaimed 2019 album When I Get Home, a direct expression of her appreciation for her roots in Houston, Texas (the city where Jamire was born, raised, and currently resides).

*Deluxe Vinyl Package*

Clay Slip color vinyl

But Only After You Have Suffered comes on a 160-gram vinyl LP (pressed by Smashed Plastic in Chicago) inside a heavyweight reverse board jacket, with 4-panel insert booklet, Eastside IARC obi strip, and dome-patterned inner-sleeve.

And, as always, we have a limited edition color vinyl option for the first pressing only, available via our Bandcamp page only, which is 777 copies of *Clay Slip* color vinyl.

Order a copy via our Bandcamp page today!

Distribution via RedEye for
US, Canada, North & South America

This album will also be available on Compact Disc (in a deluxe 6-panel digipack), on Classic Black Vinyl (same specs as above), and for independent retailers only, worldwide, an indie exclusive limited edition color vinyl variant.

Retailers in the United States or Canada or anywhere else inside of North, South and Central America... Please reach out to your sales rep at RedEye Worldwide if you are interested in making wholesale purchases of this album, or any other album in our catalog. Don't yet have a RedEye rep? Please just reach out to us and we'll get you hooked up!

Distribution via !K7 for
Europe, UK, Australia, and ROW

On all the same formats mentioned above, this album will be distributed by our good friends at !K7 and their various territory partners in Europe, UK, Australia, Asia, and everywhere else in the world outside of North & South America.

If you are a retailer or store with questions about wholesale or are just looking to get some of our records... we'd like to make things as easy for you as possible, please do not hesitate to reach out!!!

((( photo by Asia Nicole Williams )))