Tunde Olaniran releases “Mountain”

photo credit: Shack Shackelford

“Mountain” is the latest single from Flint, MI-based musician, performance artist & activist Tunde Olaniran’s second album Stranger, out October 5 via Magic Wheel. Paper Magazine notes, “”Mountain’ is the work of a brilliantly restless creative soul, full of metallic drops that open trap doors of unexpected sounds, from revving engines to squealing breaks to Olaniran’sscreams… It’s an inspiring note to self to get in gear, to gather spirit and carry on.”

Olaniran tells Paper, “I was in the studio and my friend Seth Anderson said, ‘You can’t just stop halfway up the mountain! You either climb or fall’… I realized that creating music and art was worth some sleepless nights and uncertain times.” He adds, “It’s meant to be a song you can move to, like really fucking sweat to. It’s that song you put on when you’re ready to just go into beast mode.”

STRANGER follows Olaniran’s praised 2015 debut Transgressor. The Flint, MI multi-hyphenate—singer, songwriter, producer, rapper, choreographer, author, activist & more—notes that the new album came together while he was touring with Sleigh Bells in 2017. While Transgressor was a mash-up of singing, rapping and a lot of high-speed vocal tricks, he also wanted songs that he could sing and perform stripped down.

Hear Stranger‘s previously released album tracks “Symbol,” “Vulnerable” and “Hungry.” Also watch the video for “I’m Here“—a celebration of the creative community in the Detroit & Flint, MI area with the set designed and created by Detroit-based artist Ellen Rutt and video co-directed by Olaniran and Andrew Miller (“The Highway“): https://youtu.be/BEp8thXPg0Q.

TOUR DATES

09/15 Fort Wayne, IN – Middle Waves Festival

09/18 Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme+

09/20 Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen+

09/21 Milwaukee, WI – The Back Room @ Colectivo+

09/29 Ann Arbor, MI – University of Michigan Museum of Art

11/27 Millvale, PA – The Funhouse @ Mr Smalls+

11/28 Buffalo, NY – Mohawk Place+

+notes dates with Flint Eastwood