13th Floor New Song Of The Day: Troy Kingi – Babylon Grows

Here’s Troy Kingi with the first single from his new album, Holy Colony Burning Acres, due out July 12th.

The song is Babylon Grows and the album is the third installment of Troy Kingi’s aspirational 10|10|10 Series…ten albums in ten genres in ten years!

Here’s the record company blurb with more info:

The third installment of Troy Kingi’s aspirational 10|10|10 Series (ten albums in ten genres in ten years), Holy Colony Burning Acres featuring a new incarnation of his band the Upperclass, delves into the dark corners of worldly Indigenous politics, namely colonisation and its (c)rippling effects on today’s social climate.

A stark contrast to the space psychedelia of Kingi’s sophomore offering Shake Your Skinny Ass All The Way To Zygertron, Holy Colony Burning Acres is a motivated commentary on Indigeneity wrapped in an electrifyingly 70s-styled deep roots/reggae offering reminiscent of such bands as The Abyssinians, The Upsetters and The Congos.
A hard-hitting exploration of major issues facing Indigenous peoples all around the world through Kingi’s distinctive sonic quality, vocal style and poetry, all underscored with empathic Marley-inspired political consciousness.

Inspired both thematically and sonically by the innovative reggae from the 1970s, ‘Babylon Grows’s’ politicised lyrics directly address “the man”, oppression and the price of life with a sparse, dark and dubby rhythmic track, with a cameo by Cuban folk singer-songwriter Domingo Candelario.

‘Truganini’ celebrates the life of the woman widely considered to have been the last full-blooded Aboriginal Tasmanian. Troy says of the single “Her struggles and her enduring strength is a great metaphor for all Indigenous people around the world. All the shit that our ancestors went through and yet here we are still standing, and we’ll continue fighting for our people, for our land, for our culture – that fight never leaves, because our ancestors live in us.” Troy took the sparse percussive Nyabinghi essence of songs like Bob Marley’s ‘Selassie Is The Chapel’ or ‘Rastaman Chant’ to lend ‘Truganini’ a true earthy spirituality, the perfect accompaniment to Troy’s clear and soulful voice. The track features both Aboriginal and Māori Karanga.

Tracklisting:

1.    The Tower Of Babel
2.    Ethiopia
3.    Colour Of My skin
4.    Pseudo Ego
5.    Born Of This Earth
6.    Mighty Invader
7.    Bird Of Paradise
8.    We Were Once Kings
9.    Babylon Grows
10.    Glass Eel
11.    First Nation
12.    How Much Fruit?
13.    Truganini