SOLARPUNK is everything from a positive imagining of our collective futures to actually creating it: aesthetics, afrofuturism, art, cooperatives, DIY, ecological restoration, engineering, fiction, futurism, gardening, geodesic domes, green architecture, green design, green energy, ingenuous indigenous practices, intentional community, maker spaces, materials science, music, permaculture, repair cafes, solar, solar power, sustainability, tree planting, urban planning, volunteering, 3D printing. (r/solarpunk)

WHY THIS EP: For the longest time I was a collapsnik and I buried my head under the sand, waited for the world to end. But I realized that's not how I want to live, it shouldn't be this way. So I seek out for optimistic ideas and that's how I came across, solarpunk. I realized that there are so many young people like me who were born in the hell, but they refused to give up and give in. They kept their heads up and envision a better future not just for themselves but everyone and every living species on this planet.

My last album, RESILIENCE, was to explore and experiment with this idea. But I also realized that being resilient is just an idea of trying to survive the collapse. SOLARPUNK is about building the world without collapse. And it filled me with life, imagination and creativity once again.

Also, I was hoping to release this as an album for Black History Month (annual February), but I do not want to rush the quality of the production, so I rather worked my best on four tracks for an EP, instead of a full album. Beside, every month should be about Black History.

And that's another philosophy of this album, that Black Music should be about innovation and invention, not just the aesthetics. I find that a lot of composers when they want to make Black Music, they would use instruments like djembe, marimba or African chant, without ever touching the fact that Black Music is much much deeper than just those aesthetics. Black Music is the reason for the existence of all modern genres. The reality of Black Music is about never-ending innovative production techniques and ideas, and not about stereotypical music it often represented in media from non-BIPOC musicians.

Which is why I decide to work outside-the-box for the composition and production that utilized and implemented a lot of amazing Black production techniques such as: chopped-and-screwed, funk & rock guitar playing styles, hiphop sampling techniques, reggae & hiphop inspired beat patterns, and I also used jazz & blues music theories in these track. A lot of these sounds are also DIY, to give respect to the spirit of Black Musicians who are mostly self-taught and self-reliant.

For the longest time, I ranaway from myself, from who I really am. I'm a POC refugee who was nurtured by Black community, and I was raised by Black Music, yet I tried so hard to escape from it. But I realized how inept I was when I attempted to do that. So I no longer runaway. I have returned to my roots.

I also took production inspiration from Zip Zipper's recent track 'Black Lives Matter' that they made in solidarity with BLM. Here's Zip Zipper work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJyN88f0PBU

I hope you would enjoy SOLARPUNK. I'd soon submit it to Creative Commons website and I do not plan to make money with this album, or any of my music. Please take care of each other and stay safe! ✊🏽 #BLM

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Black woman portrait was from Pixabay. Solarpunk flag by @noffle and @michaelsproul (from r/solarpunk)