Grammy-winning guitarist and Black Pumas co-founder Adrian Quesada will release his second album of 2022, Jaguar Sound, Nov. 18 via ATO Records. Ahead of premiering songs from the album this coming weekend at the Austin City Limits festival, Quesada has shared its lead single, “Noble Metals.”
“I just rode my bike every single day and listened to The Alchemist,” Quesada says of the inspiration for his new music. “I’d come back home and crank out beats. Film scores and 1970s library music have always played a big part in my musical language as they paint a cinematic picture without words and that is very much something I draw influence from. It eventually got to the point where I wanted to bring them to life in my own way and turn them into songs. I started setting some aside that matched thematically, and I began recording live instrumentation.
“I find as I get older that sometimes I feel a responsibility to show the possibility to build bridges and coexist between different worlds,” he continues. “I want someone to discover something they normally wouldn’t entertain.”
Quesada produced, wrote, engineered and played most of the instruments on Jaguar Sound at his studio in Austin. The forthcoming album, which follows his 2022 Boleros Psicodélicos LP, also features Ikebe Shakedown, Mary Lattimore, Neal Francis and David Garza. It was further inspired by Quesada’s experiences during the pandemic, the cultures in which he grew up and even 1970s Italian film scores.
At ACL this weekend, he’ll be joined by vocalists from Boleros Psicodélicos for a set on Saturday as well as Sunday’s taping of the 48th season of the long-running PBS program Austin City Limits.
After seeing their profile rise substantially in the past several years, Black Pumas announced an indefinite hiatus in August and it is unknown if or when the group will play again. “After four incredible years of career milestones and unforgettable live experiences around the world, we have made the difficult decision to press pause and step away from touring for the rest of the year,” it said in a social media announcement at the time.
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