Heems has announced his second new album of the year. Veena LP, the follow-up to February’s Lafandar, is out August 23 via Veena Sounds. The lead single, “Manto,” is a collaboration with Vijay Iyer about the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan. It arrives with a striking music video, directed by Nardeep Khurmi, that was filmed, in part, at Diversity Plaza in Jackson Heights, Queens. Watch it below.
Heems worked with one producer, Chicago’s Lapgan, on Lafandar, and he did the same on Veena LP, making the new album’s 11 tracks with Detroit producer Sid Vashi. For the new album, Heems and Vashi wove in voicemails from No Doubt’s Tony Kanal, Indian film director Zoya Akhtar, Swet Shop Boys’ Riz Ahmed, and more.
Read about Lafandar in the Pitchfork feature “18 Great Records You May Have Missed: Winter 2024.”
Veena LP:
01 Veena
02 Ratatouille
03 Manto [ft. Sid Vashi and Vijay Iyer]
04 Bourdain [ft. Mr. Cheeks]
05 Underbelly
06 Rakhi [ft. Pavvan and Ajji]
07 Flowers [ft. Navz-47]
08 Juhi [ft. Hasan Minhaj]
09 Dame
10 Banshee [ft. Cool Calm Pete]
11 Righteous