Beings, New Band Featuring Steve Gunn and Shahzad Ismaily, Announce Debut Album, Share Songs: Listen

Guitarist

Steve
Gunn;
bassist
and
synthesizer
player

Shahzad
Ismaily;
saxophonist,
guitarist,
and
vocalist
Zoh
Amba;
and
drummer

Jim
White
have
come
together
to
form
the
new
band

Beings.
On
June
7,
the
New
York
quartet
will
release
its
debut
album,


There
Is
a
Garden,
via

No
Quarter.
Below,
listen
to
Beings’
first
two
songs,
“Flowers
That
Talk”
and
“Happy
to
Be.”

Beings
first
started
coming
together
in
summer
2022
when
Shahzad
Ismaily
asked
Zoh
Amba
to
perform
with
him
at
Germany’s
Monheim
Triennale.
“It
really
changed
my
life
and
my
career,”
Amba
told

Arielle
Gordon
in
an
interview
for

Stereogum.
Eventually,
Steve
Gunn
and
Jim
White
joined
the
fray
in
Brooklyn,
culminating
in
the
band’s
debut
show
last
summer.

In
a
press
release,
Ismaily
added,
“The
four
of
us
really
fell
into
something
amalgamated
that
was
really
spiritually
sound
and
really
evocative,
really
environmental.
And
that
doesn’t
always
take
place,
even
if
the
players
individually
have
those
qualities.
Everyone
was
able
to
find
their
space
that
was
quite
distinct
from
one
another…
and
it
really
is
part
of
why
the
group
works
so
well.”

There
Is
a
Garden
will
follow
a
2022
album
from
Zoh
Amba
(Bhakti),
2023
full-lengths
from
Gunn
and
Ismaily
(Let
the
Moon
Be
a
Planet
and


Love
in
Exile,
respectively),
and
White’s
2024
debut
solo
studio
album
(All
Hits:
Memories).
Coming
up,
White
will
release
a
new
album
with
Marisa
Anderson
on
May
10
(Swallowtail)
and
a
new
Dirty
Three
album
on
June
28
(Love
Changes
Everything).

Check
out
“A
Conversation
With
Improvisational
Geniuses
Arooj
Aftab,
Vijay
Iyer,
and
Shahzad
Ismaily.”