Corinne Bailey Rae will release her new album, ‘Black Rainbows’, this September. 

The record, featuring lead single New York Transit Queen, was inspired by artworks collected by Theaster Gates at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago, Illinois.

“I knew when I walked through those doors that my life had changed forever,” shares the hitmaker. “Engaging with these archives and encountering Theaster Gates and his practice has changed how I think about myself as an artist and what the possibilities of my work can be. 

“This music has come through seeing. Seeing has been like hearing, for me. While I was looking, songs/sounds appeared.”

Of the lead track, inspired by Audrey Smaltz, who won the New Transit Queen competition in 1954, the Put Your Records On singer says: “I wanted to write an ode to this photograph of Smaltz that I saw at Stony Island Arts Bank and the incredible arc of life she’s lived since then.”

In addition to the music, the new era will also include a book, Refraction/Reflection of the Arts Bank, live shows, visuals, lectures and exhibitions. 

‘Black Rainbows’ – Bailey Rae’s first album since 2016’s ‘The Heart Speaks In Whispers’ – is out September 15 on Thirty Tigers.

Tracklist: Corinne Bailey Rae – Black Rainbows

1. A Spell, A Prayer

2. Black Rainbows

3. Erasure

4. Earthlings

5. Red Horse

6. New York Transit Queen

7. He Will Follow You With His Eyes

8. Put It Down

9. Peach Velvet Sky

10. Before The Throne of Invisible God

In celebration of the new project, Bailey Rae is performing select shows across the US this autumn, with a number of shows in Spain and three very special performances in London’s Ladbroke Hall at the end of October. 

The full list of dates is below.

SEPTEMBER

5 — Staller Center for the Arts @ Stony Brook University, Long Island, NY
6 — Lincoln Theatre, Washington, DC
8 — Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
9 — Schwarzman Center at Yale University, New Haven, CT
10 — The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, New York, NY—
12 — Memorial Hall, Cincinnati, OH
14 — Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
17 — CMA Theater, Nashville, TN
19 — Charleston Music Hall, Charleston, SC
20 — Carolina Theatre, Durham, NC
22 — The Eagle Theater at Sugar Hill, Sugar Hill, GA
24 — Alys Stephens Center at University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL
26 — Orpheum Theater, New Orleans, LA
29 — The Paramount Theatre, Austin, TX

OCTOBER

1 — Stafford Centre, Houston, TX
3 — Texas Theatre, Dallas, TX
5 — Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM
7 —Saint George Hall, Marfa, TX
25 — Ladbroke Hall, London, UK
26 — Ladbroke Hall, London, UK
28 — Ladbroke Hall, London, UK
31 — Teatro Pavón, Madrid, Spain

NOVEMBER

1 — Studio P62, Barcelona, Spain
3 — Cartuja Centre, Seville, Spain