Ric Wilson - Photo by Michael Salisbury
Last year,
Ric Wilson took the stage at
Pitchfork Music Festival and wowed the early Saturday crowd with an incredibly fun performance that I still think about. Whether he was on stage or jumping off it for an impromptu Soul Train Line the middle of the crowd, the set was a perfect example of Wilson's sound and energy. During that set he performed
"Trunk Music" alongside the Lane Tech high school marching band, a fantastic track that exhibits Wilson more low key side with a smooth flow and brassy instrumentation.
Wilson has been releasing music steadily since that Pitchfork Music Festival performance including his collaborative EP
They Call Me Disco with Terrace Martin back in May, a stellar protest anthem
"Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P" over the summer, and "Fall in Chicago" just last month. But
"Trunk Music" has been absent from his release schedule until now! It's taken awhile, but we have an official release of the song!
Ric Wilson - Photo by Michael Salisbury
"Trunk Music" has taken a long journey from being written two years ago to the music video being shot last year to finally being released, but the wait is well worth it. Wilson's so laid back throughout the track, the song's chorus perfectly mixes Wilson's socially conscious message with the more fun concept of bumping trunk music seamlessly. There is just so much going on in his lyrics that it would be a shame to assume any one verse is about a singular thing. Wilson speaks on the diversity of the culture around him, hardships that have plagued communities he's a part of, and so much more, underlining the themes with the line "I am not my environment but a testimony of the shit lived."
Check out the music video, co-directed by A Solo Vision and Mauricio Reyes, below. You can purchase
"Trunk Music" off Bandcamp and I highly suggest you check the rest of his catalog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZv9Br1jNSo&feature=youtu.be
