Gallant shares "Gentleman" off new album

Last week, alt-R&B singer (and Sufjan Stevens collaborator) Gallant said “I’m back” and announced NYC & LA shows, which made it look like he had something up his sleeve. Yesterday, he posted a teaser that said “tomorrow,” and now more info and a new song is here. He’ll be following his 2016 debut album Ology with his sophomore album “later this year,” and the first single is “Gentleman.” It’s a woozy, atmospheric dose of R&B with cold, metallic percussion. It’s a clear progression from his debut, and it’s making this new album seem pretty promising. The song comes with a dark, minimalist video directed by past collaborator Sasha Samsonova, which suits the song perfectly.

“Visually, I wanted to kind of do the same thing I was doing audibly,” Gallant told NPR. “It’s an homage to a bunch of different films that are really shadowy, Matrix-esque worlds that I think can only be built with 35 millimeter film … And obviously the lighting was like Hype Williams-type, like those videos in the late ’90s; the movie Belly; the way that Seal’s album covers are lit. And then it was the decision to be vulnerable and make the video just focus on the black male body.” Watch above.

Gallant’s first of two NYC shows is tonight (4/3) at Public Arts, and his second is Thursday (4/5) at National Sawdust. HIs LA show is 4/17 at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever. All three are sold out.