Contour – “The Question”

This morning, Contour surprise dropped a new single called “The Question”. With this also came the announcement that the band will release an album later this month called Live on Record. “The Question” is a track that you may have heard Contour play at their shows over the past year or so, and you might have even seen them performing it in the Pablo basement for WSBF Live Sessions.

Contour’s Khari Lucas hasn’t revealed much about the specifics of Live on Record yet, but he did mention that the album was recorded with the full band. That’s definitely something new for Contour. In the past, Contour has mainly been a solo recording and production project, with a band joining Khari for the live performances. Now, though, Contour has been solidified as a band in the studio. That obviously doesn’t mean that Khari is going to stop producing and self-recording, but it is cool to hear a full band supporting his vocals.

“The Question” captures that same mysterious energy that I’m starting to be able to trace through Contour’s music. It doesn’t really have a specific genre, but there a few key elements of Khari’s musical style that continue to show up on the recordings. It starts with that deep bass line, which gives you something concrete to grab while the rest of the song is free to experiment. It’s not entirely jazz, but it has a very free-form feel to it, with fluid song structures that really don’t want to be defined.

This mysterious vibe is present on a lot of Contour’s music, and it even manifests itself in the mysterious way that Khari chooses to promote the project. For example, today they released a song called “The Question” and vaguely mentioned an album coming within the next month. Don’t you now have a few questions about that album? The song, and the way that it was released, is very self-aware.

We’ll keep you posted on more news about Live on Record as Khari continues to trickle it out. Listen to “The Question” below.