Julia Holter, Sun Ra Arkestra and King Khan join Harper Simon's 'Meditations On Crime'

Announced with the spellbinding Heloise from Julia Holter (ft. Geologist), Meditations on Crime adds to its impressive cast of contributors

Scored by Harper Simon We The People Of The Myths brings the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra into the fold with the voice of King Khan

We Are The People Of The Myths – OUT NOW
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After drawing Julia Holter into the fold alongside members of Pixies, Animal Collective and indefinable 4AD sound manipulators, Gang Gang Dance, Meditations on Crime welcomes fabled, afrofuturist ensemble, Sun Ra Arkestra with King Khan to the enigmatic, growing collective. Released via AntiFragile Music, We The People Of The Myths continues the mystery-cloaked journey from one single release to the next, co-recorded, arranged and produced by Harper Simon and late, legendary music producer Hal Willner in one Hal’s final sessions.

The collection’s first two offerings, Heloise by Holter, featuring Animal Collective’s Geologist and Crime Seed by Gang Gang Dance, with Paz Lenchantin (The Pixies) and Carla Azar (Autolux) joining them in the studio, garnered media acclaim spanning Stereogum, Cool Hunting, Pitchfork, BrooklynVegan, Under The Radar and more. The collective unveils the new track afront a backdrop of tantalising ambiguity as to what might come next, with Simon having already pointed the way to a run of summer releases and hints at more curated visual art crossovers. The cover art for releases to date have been purposely selected from the studios of artists and photographers including Jessica Craig-Martin, Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe.

Heaping praise from the highest point, Hal Wilner, who passed away in 2020, previously said of Canadian musician and poet, Khan: “Lou [Reed] and I came across some of King Khan’s records and loved them. Lou said that King Khan was a cross between Little Richard, Gil Scott Heron, James Brown and Johnny Rotten in one person.”

Uniting Khan amidst a legendary cast of musicians — Marshall Allen (Alto/EVI) and Danny Thompson (Baritone/Flute) of Sun Ra Arkestra, Cecil Brooks (Trumpet), Noel Scott (Baritone/Alto), Elson Nascimento (Percussion), Wayne Smith (Drums), Tyler Mitchell (Bass), Vincent Chauncey (French Horn), Terry Adams (Piano) — he and Simon have worked together to create a hazy, cosmic track that brings poetry to life.

King Khan adds: “There were many comets colliding in this track, the late great Hal Willner was the main source of this interplanetary musical supernova. Hal put Harper in touch with me and the Arkestra whom I had joined on stage a few times to perform the “We the People of the Myths” poem that I had written for Marshall Allen. Harper had composed the track for the Arkestra, which also featured the late great Danny Thompson on baritone sax. When Harper sent me the track, the poem fit perfectly into it like sacred geometry. It’s as much an invocation to ancient spirits as it is a beacon for help, asking the universe to send aid to this dying planet. I think if Sun Ra had heard this track, he would have been proud.”

Explaining how the collaboration came to be, Harper Simon reflects: “I’d always wanted to work with the Sun Ra Arkestra, and I knew Hal Willner had worked with them a lot. I reached out to Hal to see if he might be able to co-produce a couple tracks with me and the Arkestra. He set it up for me and I was really over the moon. It was a bit intimidating to write for them as I had never written for a jazz ensemble before, much less the legendary Arkestra, but I composed two pieces for them; melodic motifs and arrangements and a loose structure for them to improvise over.

“It was a great and memorable day. I’m so happy I got to spend this last day with Hal doing something so special. We were both satisfied and laughing and really high on the session when we drove back to New York that night.

“I knew I wanted to have a vocalist collaborate on the track. Who else could even remotely pull that off except King Khan? I’d been a fan for a while and actually took Hal to see him play in LA some years ago. Since that time, they had worked together, so Hal connected us and he agreed to co-write. He’d performed with Marshall Allen and the Sun Ra Arkestra before, and put down this vocal in Berlin; a hazy, cosmic rap that elevated our crime theme to a spiritual level, with his own idiosyncratic delivery and timing. King Khan is a rare musical artist — it was really an honor to collaborate with him and the Arkestra, and I hope we get to do it live one day!“

Connect with the Meditations On Crime collective online at:

https://www.instagram.com/meditationsoncrime/