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This week (August 29th), André 3000, one of hip hop’s great craftsmen, writers and performers, brings his woodwind passion full circle with the world premiere of the album’s official visual component, Listening To The Sun (an intimate album film for New Blue Sun), a 90-minute long short film (or visual listening session). The Terence Nance (Random Acts of Flyness) directed feature which premiered on YouTube, is a performance art piece that finds André physically channeling the spirit of his latest studio album set in a serene, blue-lit setting with his aura and flute taking centerstage.

Watch Listening To The Sun below and stream the chart-topping album HERE.

“I hope you enjoy the ride as much as we did. What you hear is what we did as it was happening,” André 3000 says about the “formations” that comprise New Blue Sun at the onset of his new short film. The artist and multihyphenate, with the help of just a few props (including a lit candle and a traffic cone), provides a captivating visual companion to his first studio album, which will perhaps serve as inspiration for how to experience the eight-track LP.

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André was candid with GQ in a November cover story about his inspirations behind the album. “I’d like to make things that when I’m dead and gone 3,000 years from now, people may dig up and find,” he said. “So if that’s sculpting, if that’s actual physical artwork, painting, designing instruments, that’s where I’m at right now.” The Atlanta-bred artist’s audience, cultivated during parts of three decades, is on that journey with him.

New Blue Sun peaked at no. 1 on Billboard’s New Age and Current Alternative Albums charts, as well as Apple Music’s Alternative Albums chart following its release. This was in addition to a no. 2 peak on iTunes Albums and Apple Music overall albums charts, massive performances for the thematically tangential release. The album’s staying power has matched its intrigue, as it peaks once again at no. 1 on the Current Alternative Albums Chart this week, to go with a no. 2 slot on the LP Vinyl Chart. André and his flute have got something to say, and the world is both listening and witnessing it live. André 3000 will tour his debut LP for the second time this year in September, when he kicks off a 26-date North American trek beginning September 19th in New Orleans, and concludes on November 14th in André’s hometown of Atlanta.
André 3000’s flute path, which has taken him from the Venice coast where he met the manufacturer of his first flute, to a North American tour of his new album, has led him to yet another point on his exploration timeline: Listening to The Sun. Watch the new short film below and share your thoughts in the comments.