Guitarist extraordinaire Cory Wong has released his new single today. “Design” features eclectic New Zealand-based singer, songwriter and producer Kimbra, who first caught the public’s eye with 2012 multi-platinum single “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye. The disco-funk track heralds Wong’s eighth album of 2020, The Striped Album, due out Friday, October 23. The self-produced album finds Wong in typical giddy form, masterfully combining elements of funk, blues and disco, and features a variety of special guests to share in the merriment, including Tom Misch, Joe Satriani and David T. Walker. “Design” is available today on all streaming services and DSPs.
LISTEN TO “DESIGN”
PRE-ORDER THE STRIPED ALBUM
On the collaboration, Wong says:
“Kimbra has been one of my favorite artists for years. She's always pushing the artistic and creative boundaries with her voice and her production. Her albums always have such a unique and cohesive sound to them. Her ability to explore new spaces has always really inspired me, and her fingerprint in music is iconic.
Her voice and delivery have such musical depth, but also SO MUCH swagger to it. I had written a tune that I was looking for someone to sing over, and she was the first person I thought of. Although we had never met in person, I sent her a message on Instagram of all places. I was pleasantly surprised when she messaged back and said she was a fan of me and really dug the tune that I had sent her. We decided to meet up in LA and write the song together. Her conceptual, lyrical, and melodic ideas just flowed out effortlessly and we recorded the song in an afternoon. We were exploring a few different concepts for the song, but the main one that we both kept coming back to is the idea of the confusion of machine/human. We are in a weird time where we have our 'digital' selves, and our 'analog' selves. This song is a loosely abstract approach to convincing ourselves that we are human and not machine.”
The Striped Album follows the release of two live albums - The Syncopate & Motivate Tour, Set 1 and Set 2; two contemplative acoustic records - Trail Songs: Dusk and its sister record, Trail Songs: Dawn; an ambient album with Jon Batiste - Meditations; a live album with The Metropole Orkest, Live In Amsterdam; and a jazz-funk album, Elevator Music for an Elevated Mood. As if that weren’t enough, he also began hosting a new podcast, “Wong Notes” with Premier Guitar, created a plug-in for in-studio use and started a new recording vlog.
Since 2017, Wong has been touring worldwide playing his original music on the biggest stages. Whether being featured as a guest with the house band on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, or as a member of Vulfpeck and the Fearless Flyers, Wong is a restless creator who doesn’t sit still for long. His 2019 album, Motivational Music For The Syncopated Soul, went top 20 on the Billboard Jazz Chart and top 10 on the Contemporary Jazz Chart. His 2020 album, Elevator Music for an Elevated Mood, went top 20 on the Contemporary Jazz Chart and another 2020 album, Live In Amsterdam’ With The Metropole Orkest, went top 10 on the Classical Crossover Albums Chart.
