Last month, Dawn Richard and multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer Spencer Zahn announced Pigments, their debut collaborative album, out October 21 on Merge Records. Today, they present its second movement: “Sienna,” “Cerulean,” “Opal,” and “Saffron” accompanied by an official video for “Saffron” directed by Richard. “Saffron” unfurls with clarinet and hazy piano chords. Throughout the video, dancers from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) mimic the music’s fluid sounds. As the track grows in its intensity with eerie synth and Richard’s ghostly vocals, the dancers’ movements become more exaggerated.

Richard says, “What would your last dance be? In all my struggles and pain, beauty, ugliness, and everything in between, all I’ve ever known is to dance through it all. And if I had one hope in all the chaos of life, I’d ask God if he could save me one more dance before I go.” The movement’s first track, “Sienna,” represents calm and “reflection in its purest form,” while “Cerulean” is “an embodiment of the storm” and “Opal” symbolizes the power of voices once stifled.

Watch visualizers for Movement 2: “Sienna,” “Cerulean,” “Opal,” and “Saffron” 

Richard will join the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for the institute’s first-ever week-long artist residency Oct. 17–21, 2022. Richard will premiere Pigments in full with Zahn, as well as participate in various events. All events, outlined below, are free and open to the public but require advance registration because of limited venue capacity. More information on the residency and RSVP links can be found here.

  • Mon. Oct. 17, 7pm @ Oswalds Mill Audio Listening Showroom (110 Bridge St., Brooklyn)
    World-premiere immersive listening session of Pigments. Moderated by Puja Patel, Editor-in-Chief of Pitchfork.
  • Wed. Oct. 19, 7pm @ The Garage (370 Jay St., Brooklyn)
    “Dancing to Dawn” block party with DJ Lindsey
  • Thu. Oct. 20, 8pm @ The Clive Davis Institute (370 Jay St., Brooklyn)
    “Dawn 3.0,” an in-depth conversation, hosted by New York Times writer Marcus J. Moore
  • Fri. Oct. 21, 7pm @ The Garage (370 Jay St., Brooklyn)
    “Performing Pigments: A World-Premiere Live Concert Experience” featuring Richard, Zahn, and other musicians

Early praise for Pigments: 

“[Dawn Richard is] ever-evolving, impossible-to-pigeonhole.” —The New York Times

“This collaboration between musical powerhouses Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn creates a mesmerizing and ethereal soundscape.” —MTV News 

“Between Zahn’s sprawling soundscape and Richard’s fondness for playing with form, I haven’t been this excited about an artist collab in a while.” —Stereogum, Best Songs of the Week