Petite Noir debuts new single 'Finding Paradise'

Today Petite Noir shares “Finding Paradise,” the latest single to be lifted from the forthcoming album MotherFather, his first LP release since the acclaimed La Vie Est Belle/Life is Beautiful, which came out in 2015.

“‘Finding Paradise’ is about finding yourself again, and your true inner voice,” says Petite Noir of the song. “I returned back to myself after a really tough period in my life - asking for help and realising the strength was always within me.”

“Finding Paradise” follows previously released single “Blurry” which The FADER describes as a “psychedelic fever dream, centered on an intoxicating chord progression strummed out muddily on a warped electric guitar.” The track features Zambian artist Sampa The Great who adds a stunning verse to this anthemic tune, and a striking minimalist music video directed by Hector Aponysus.

Petite Noir is known as the architect of Noirwave – a musical and cultural movement that draws creative energy from punk aesthetics and the fragmented identity of today’s African diaspora. The Congolese artist was born in Belgium, raised in South Africa, and is now based between London and Paris. Since his radical 2018 “visual album” La Maison Noir/The Black House, he has won praise from the likes of The Guardian, Pitchfork, Dazed and Huck Magazine, going on to collaborate with Danny Brown, tour with Young Fathers and capture the attention of Solange, who have all championed his music.

MotherFather has a subtitle: “The darkness is comforting sometimes.” As Petite Noir explains: “It’s about going through the darkness. But it’s also about rebirth. Because the dark times are needed for us to grow.” The record defines a time of enormous personal upheaval in Petite Noir’s life, retracing old scars of the racism he experienced growing up in Johannesburg and examining his own relationship to the Black experience. Across its ten tracks, he navigates the dualities of joy and pain; sweetness and abrasion, and how life is richer for having both.

It’s only right that in wrestling with these existential and spiritual questions that the sound of MotherFather is on a biblical scale, equal parts heaven and hellfire. The record has guest features from Sampa The Great, the Grammy-nominated, Floridian jazz musician Theo Croker, and production from Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio), CID RIM, Moshik Kop, Tropics, and Futura