Nighthawks / The City Is Beautiful

First Word Records are proud to bring you the first double AA side single taken from 'Ghouls'; the forthcoming 6th album by Bastien Keb.

A multi-instrumentalist originally from the Midlands, Bastien Keb (aka Sebastian Jones) previously released his highly-acclaimed album '22.02.85' on First Word back in 2017; this new album being a very welcome return to the Worldwide Award-winning UK independent label.

His music has been widely supported across BBC Radio in the past by Gilles Peterson, Huey Morgan, Huw Stephens, Jamie Cullum, Lauren Laverne, Mary Anne Hobbs, Nemone and Tom Ravenscroft. This is in addition to glowing press reviews from the likes of Pitchfork, The Guardian and The Line Of Best Fit.

He's built up a steady fanbase through his extensive catalogue over the years, with material for labels like Def Pressé, Gearbox, One-Handed Music and most recently for Shabaka Hutchings' Native Rebel Recordings imprint, on a collaborative project with South London's Confucius MC (Speakers Corner Quartet).

Keb explains that "Nighthawks' is the post-prologue to this new album. It's like a late-night bus ride through the city. The fluorescent lights bouncing off the sparsely-populated streets, all cosy and magical. Sonically it's like a re-imagining of the opening credits of 'The Warriors'."

This single is backed with another album track, 'The City is Beautiful' featuring Malik Ameer Crumpler on vocals and Keb's cousin Mark Millington on sax. This one is an epic slice of jazzy-spoken word, reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann's Taxi Driver score, giving another flavour of the diversity and mood of the full forthcoming project.

Malik Ameer Crumpler appears extensively across the album; Malik is a poet, composer, editor and professor who's been involved in numerous albums while writing for various forms of experimental media. Originally hailing from Oakland, California, Crumpler relocated to Harlem, NYC then Paris, France where he's been based for the last decade, publishing, performing poetry, teaching and lecturing at several Universities.

Through the reflective and introspective multi-mood journey of its 19-tracks, 'Ghouls' spanspsychedelic-chamber-funk, warped anti-ballads, cinematic instrumentals, Ethio-jazz & ethereal ambience.

Part soundtrack, part beat-tape, part memoir, this is a dreamlike soundscape sewn together from half-forgotten memories & late night breakdowns.

Entirely sample-free, this album is full to the brim with musical experimentation, with Keb's compulsion to make all the individual pieces of music independently; combining strings, harps, saxophones, theremins, clarinets, flutes and trumpets.

He signals to the fuzzy, nostalgic nebulous of mid '90s skate videos, as well as harking back to the scores & moods of movies like The French Connection and La Haine. There there are whispers of sounds in the air from jazz clubs, street preachers & Turkish restaurants.

Keb describes the sonic experience of this forthcoming album simply as this… "You're half awake, and half asleep, but you're warm…"

Cover photo by Jonathan Finlayson.

'Nighthawks / The City is Beautiful' will be released digitally worldwide on Weds Oct 1st, with the album 'Ghouls' due to drop on vinyl & digital, November 14th 2025.