Alabaster DePlume

Alabaster DePlume — the acclaimed London-based saxophonist, singer, songwriter, activist, orator, and poet-philosopher — announces A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, a daring new album out March 7 on International Anthem.

DePlume shares eleven songs of agency and survival and presence; of confronting life’s pains rather than trying to avoid them; of banishing escapism. It’s his first major work following 2022’s GOLD and 2020's To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol 1. It also directly follows his EP Cremisan: Prologue To A Blade (recorded in Palestine in summer 2024) and his poetry book Looking for my value: Prologue to a blade, both of which were released in late 2024 as precursors to this album.

Across A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, DePlume’s reflections on healing, dignity, and struggle are communicated through a stirring assemblage of disparate musics: ghostly and ancient folk melodies, groove-anchored maelstroms of swirling folk-jazz, elegant string arrangements that strike a midpoint between Ravel and Gainsbourg (courtesy of Macie Stewart), disembodied voices reconfiguring into the shape of a post-modern Greek chorus, noir atmosphere, and allegoric, troubadouric song. Throughout, Alabaster’s intimate, confessional croon (a la Donovan or Devendra Banhart) and vibrato-laced tenor saxophone playing (a la Getatchew Mekurya) convey, with a startling humanistic touch, everything from dejected fragility to resolute strength.