Boots is the producer/singer/songwriter/rapper with a magical ear who blessed "80%" of last year's earth-shaking Beyoncé album. (When the internet discovered him, it kind of freaked out.) Today, he's sharing his debut solo mixtape, WinterSpringSummerFall. Recorded around the world over the course of the year, its 16 songs are laser sharp but delightfully all over the place, like a stream-of-consciousness that's at turns sexy, lonely, and uplifting. Songs bounce from one time signature to another, and braid together fragments of sounds picked up and preserved — a bit of a voicemail, a little yawn, a train. Fittingly, the tape weaves together the efforts of a bunch of collaborators: composer Son Lux, singer Kelela, super duo Shlohmo & Jeremih, and king Beyoncé herself.
We figured Boots himself would introduce the tape best. His story, and the stream, are below:
This is my album/mixtape/whatever the fuck you wanna call it. It's called WinterSpringSummerFall (Album Cover #1)
I wanted to premiere this with BuzzFeed, because they started that manhunt for me.
They've also figured out the internet:
I really fucking hate interviews and talking with journalists because sometimes they try to flip your words around to tell you their story instead of the real story.
WinterSpringSummerFall was recorded all over the world over the past year.
Australia.
New Orleans.
London.
Miami.
Toronto.
NYC.
Everything sounds like music to me, so sometimes when I hear things in the city or in nature, I'll record those sounds and put them into songs. A train I heard in New Orleans ended up in [WinterSpringSummerFall song] "Dust."
So for the first and last time, here's my whole story from the beginning. (Album Cover #2)
