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Tuesday, March 1st – Grammy-winning R&B singer/songwriter Leon Bridges and trailblazing Houston trio Khruangbin’s new EP, Texas Moon officially debuted at #4 on “Top R&B Albums,” #2 on “Vinyl Albums”, #2 on “Top Album Sales,” #2 on “Top Alternative Albums,” #2 on “Top Rock Albums,” and #23 on the “Billboard 200.”
Texas Moon’s charting is a groundbreaking achievement and follows 2020’s acclaimedTexas Sun which soared to the No. 1 slot on Billboard’s Emerging Artists Chart along with landing the No.1 on spot on “Americana/Folk Albums,” No. 2 on “Vinyl Albums,” No. 4 on “Top Rock Albums” and No. 6 on “Top R&B Albums.”
While the five new Texas Moon songs are a continuation of the first EP, they also have an identity all their own— “I think we’re redefining how people perceive Texas music—that beautiful marriage of country and R&B—and really paying homage to that,” says Bridges.
The writing is a reflection of their mutual trust and Texan influences, the vast array of artists embedded in the state’s DNA — from Beyonce and ZZ Top to Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Geto Boys, or Willie Nelson and Erykah Badu — Khruangbin and Leon, too, expound upon the state’s diverse range of sounds, this time with a sharp set of lyrics that touch on love, faith and death while exploring new dimensions of inventive, hypnotic grooves.
Garnering critical acclaim from The New York Times, NPR, Uproxx and more Vulture’s Switched on Pop Podcast says the new EP “invokes the musical palette of their first release and inverts its lyrical themes.”
Listen to Khruangbin and Leon dissect their “less is more” approach to sounds on Texas Moon via Vulture’s Switched on Pop Podcast here: https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/leon-bridges-khruangbin-texas-moon
EP highlight “Doris,” a song about Bridges’ grandmother passing to the other side, is one of the EP’s most intimate moments, fully indicative of Bridges’ trust in the band. In their recent NPR Weekend Edition appearance, Khruangbin’s Mark Speer says “We have a thing in the studio — nothing is sacred except for the song, right? So it doesn't matter how long you took on whatever part — if it doesn't bring something into the song and make it better, then it's just not staying. And the more space you leave in the music, the more space there is for the spirit to be there.”
Elsewhere the pairing embraces Bridges' honeyed vocals with pared-down production, like on the song, “Chocolate Hils” which the FADER says “could easily sit next to Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together,' Barry White's 'Can't Get Enough of Your Love Baby,' and Marvin Gaye's 'Sexual Healing”
Watch the video that features Leon as an animated chocolatier in the brand new video for “Chocolate Hills” here: https://youtu.be/IfcNgwtRccQ
“Father, Father” where Bridges pleads with the heavens over a simple rolling guitar lick—“Look at the mess that I made/Just a man with unclean hands”—only to be reminded of God’s eternal love.
Lead single “B-Side” frolics across a contemplative nighttime state with congo, bonga and joy. The New York Times says it sounds like a “jam that went on much longer…” and Uproxx says the music is “celestial, otherworldly and incredibly psychedelic.”
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