Bilal: “Adjust Brightness” New Album. Tour Dates + Exclusive Interview
Grammy Winning Bilal Returns with First Album of New Music in Eight Years, Adjust Brightness out September now!
Listen to Atmospheric Juke-Propelled Lead Single “Sunshine” HERE Coast-to-Coast National Tour with Stops in NY, LA, Philly, Boston, Atlanta + more
“Bilal is a vocalist with a foot in two worlds. He’s a rap fan’s favorite jazz singer, or a jazz fan’s favorite hip hop singer” – NPR
GRAMMY Award-winning artist Bilal returns to the spotlight with a powerful reminder of his dynamic vocal abilities and songwriting mastery, back with his first album of new music in eight years titled Adjust Brightness. The new album features 11 brand-new tracks that will take listeners on his most daring musical journey yet. Adjust Brightness represents a bold step forward in Bilal’s already innovative sound, blending his deep love of soul, funk, and jazz with futuristic, electronic, and abstract elements. Listeners can expect an immersive sonic experience that defies genre conventions, as Bilal continues to evolve and refine his unique style.
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“I realized a long time ago that, with the specter of AI and streaming, we risk losing our humanity,” says Bilal. “With Adjust Brightness, it was like: let’s make some shit that is going to confuse the damn computer. We’re bringing a love frequency — emphasizing the warmth, the love. It’s an intimate record.”
Eight years following 2015’s In Another Life, a collaboration with Adrian Younge that drew from the psychedelic verve of vintage funk, Adjust Brightness marks a bold new chapter for Bilal. This album is a giant step forward, as Bilal merges his organic, soulful roots with experimental electronic influences inspired by artists like Aphex Twin, Stereolab, and Jai Paul. The creation of Adjust Brightness was deeply inspired by a period of musical and visual experimentation.
Bilal began to approach his music much like a painter approaches a canvas — focusing on moods, textures, and atmospheres rather than traditional song forms. His experiences with experimental jazz and live performances fed into this avant-garde direction, and tracks like “Sunshine” and “Humility” highlight his innovative use of atmospheric grooves, intricate beats, and sonic manipulation. Though he’s venturing into new territory, the album retains the warmth, intimacy, and emotional core that have always defined Bilal’s artistry.
Earlier this year, during Black Music Month, Bilal released the critically acclaimed Live at Glasshaus (via Glasshaus Presents), a mid-career retrospective featuring Questlove, Common, Robert Glasper, and Burniss Travis. The live record presented Bilal within an ensemble of luminaries to reimagine standouts from his classic repertoire, shining a spotlight on his ever-evolving artistry that asserts, in 2024, he is at the height of his powers, eternally honing his craft and finding new edges in his voice.
In celebration of Adjust Brightness, Bilal will embark on a national tour with stops in New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, and more. Fans can look forward to experiencing Bilal electrifying live performances, with a setlist featuring both new material from Adjust Brightness and classic hits from his storied career. This tour will offer fans across the country the opportunity to witness the next chapter in Bilal’s evolution as an artist.
Oct 07 – The Egg – Albany, NY
Oct 08 – Crystal Ballroom – Somerville, MA
Oct 09 – World Cafe Live – Philadelphia, PA w/ Melanie Charles
Oct 10 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY w/ Madison McFerrin
Oct 11 – Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
Oct 13 – City Winery Atlanta – Atlanta, GA w/ Halima
Oct 14 – City Winery Nashville – Nashville, TN w/ Aliah Sheffiel
Oct 16 – City Winery St. Louis – St. Louis, MO w/ Aliah Sheffield
Oct 17 – Ramova Theater – Chicago, IL w/ Madison McFerrin
Oct 19 – Englert Theatre – Iowa City, IA w/ Aliah Sheffield
Oct 20 – The Dakota – Minneapolis, MN
Oct 22 – The Lodge Room – Los Angeles, CA (Jazz Is Dead)
Oct 23 – Cornerstone Craft Beer & Live Music – Berkeley, CA (Jazz Is Dead)
Oct 24 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR (Jazz Is Dead)
Oct 25 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA (Jazz Is Dead)
Oct 26 – Biltmore Cabaret – Vancouver, BC
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Bilal /// Adjust Brightness /// Bio
Things for Bilal fans to consider on Adjust Brightness, the fearless and groundbreaking new album from the GRAMMY Award-winning singer Bilal. The admitted influence of techno wizard Aphex Twin, postmodern noise-jazz experimentalists Stereolab, and brutalist drum and bass mastermind Squarepusher, only means that this is still very much a Bilal record. This is the same man whose versatile yet focused vocal intuition and visceral expression has made him an invaluable part of collaborations with the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Erykah Badu, and Clipse. He’s simply, as he’s done before, pushing the envelope. “I realized a long time ago that, with the specter of AI and streaming, we risk losing our humanity,” Bilal says. “With Adjust Brightness, it was like: let’s make some shit that is going to confuse the damn computer. We’re bringing a love frequency — emphasizing the warmth, the love. It’s an intimate record.”
Eight years following 2015’s In Another Life, a collaboration with Adrian Younge that mined inspiration from the live but psychedelic verve of vintage funk, and immediately following 2024’s Live at Glasshaus performance, which reaffirmed Bilal’s unparalleled status as a performer and interpreter of his own work, Adjust Brightness is a giant step forward. Bilal blends his unmatched command of soul, jazz, and R&B with abstract electronic touches for an afro-futuristic project rooted in organic earthiness. As the industrial squelch of album opener “A To Z” lurches into motion, it’s clear that Bilal is tapping into a modern vein of creativity. He cites artists like The Internet, Sault, Tame Impala, Bonobo, Little Simz, and Solange as inspirations, who’d all likely say the same about Bilal.
In a way, Adjust Brightness is a reciprocal, generous act — Bilal appreciating the new frontiers younger artists are discovering, and incorporating their innovations into his approach. As Bilal shares, Adjust Brightness was long labored over. “It’s more assembled than as is — these different fragments that I was experimenting with brought together into completely different shapes.” It’s an approach that recalls Miles Davis’ tape-splicing method from fusion classics like In Silent Way or On The Corner — recontextualizing human performance with electronic tools.
Specifically, the process was ignited by a new experimental jazz group he was forming. “We’d done a few experimental gigs and it inspired me to try and compose in this idiom that was expressed via samplers and other modern tools. I was putting my voice through different guitar pedals and things like that live. Through learning those different sounds and playing with this new band, it just got me into writing in that mindset.” Bilal found particular inspiration in the impressionistic, mood-focused performances of the Japanese musician Yuki Hirato; he strived to write in a way that emphasized mood over traditional structure. These experiments stalled with the arrival of COVID.
While he waited out lockdown with his family in Morocco, Bilal found himself musically stuck and instead took up painting. It was enlightening. “I started to see music as a painter would, as a landscaping kind of thing. As I considered this experimental jazz record, I wanted to tap into this more abstract creative expression I was exploring through painting.” Bilal emerged from lockdown reinvigorated. He got his own laboratory going in Philadelphia, and tapped an array of collaborators to help him sculpt what would become Adjust Brightness. but there are also contributions from Robert Glasper, Karriem Riggins, Pino Palladino, Keyon Harrold, Burniss Travis, and a veritable murderer’s row of session musicians and producers.
Most key to the Adjust Brightness process were Bilal’s longtime bass maestro Conley “Tone” Whitfield and multi instrumentalist / producer, Simon Martinez, who produces as Flanafi. “Simon was a big element in this record. He’s from a generation after me but injected a fresh approach. We connected because he was playing with Tony in this experimental, electronic band.” Bilal continues: “Some songs take me 25 years to write anyway — in making the record, I’d all of sudden be reminded of these other songs I had. I’d have these half-written shapes, and Simon and Tony enabled me to complete those thoughts.”
The creation of the electro-propelled “Sunshine” exemplifies their creative alchemy. “It was a real breakthrough moment. It started off as this kind of mumble track, and I wanted to keep it that way. But we were working on another tune that didn’t make the record, and threw on “Sunshine” as a bit of a palette cleanser. Our mix engineer was hearing words in the track and we were putting together words to these mumbles — they fit perfectly.” “It was just like a painting — abstract shapes and tiny color changes revealed how the entire thing should be shaded.”
Adjust Brightness is replete with these moments of creative kismet: Whether it’s the icy groove of “We Are What We Are,” the sparse and reverberant love hallucination “Lay Around,” or the cubist torch song “Tell Me,” Bilal and his collaborators provide plenty of proof that their lab was producing pure musical alchemy. For Bilal, it’s less a departure than an evolution — a snapshot of what is sparking curiosity and excitement in him. As he sings atop a swaggering, alien soul beat on Adjust Brightness: “Life is an ever-changing thing — there’s always a new normal.”
