Kae Tempest will release new album The Line is a Curve on April 8 via American Recordings / Republic Records. For it they worked with longtime collaborator Dan Carey and executive producer Rick Rubin, both of whom worked on 2019's The Book Of Traps And Lessons. The album features appearances by Brockhampton's Kevin Abstract, Lianne La Havas, Fontaines DC's Grian Chatten, Confucius MC, and more, and the cover photograph was shot by Wolfgang Tillmans who worked on Frank Ocean's Blonde.

"The Line Is A Curve is about letting go. Of shame, anxiety, isolation and falling instead into surrender," Kae says. "Embracing the cyclical nature of time, growth, love. This letting go can hopefully be felt across the record. In the musicality, the instrumentation, the lyricism, the delivery, the cover art. In the way it ends where it begins and begins where it ends. I knew I wanted my face on the sleeve. Throughout the duration of my creative life, I have been hungry for the spotlight and desperately uncomfortable in it. For the last couple of records, I wanted to disappear completely from the album covers, the videos, the front-facing aspects of this industry. A lot of that was about my shame but I masked it behind a genuine desire for my work to speak for itself, without me up front, commodifying what felt so rare to me and sacred. I was, at times, annoyed that in order to put the work out, I had to put myself out. But this time around, I understand it differently. I want people to feel welcomed into this record, by me, the person who made it, and I have let go of some of my airier concerns. I feel more grounded in what I’m trying to do, who I am as an artist and as a person and what I have to offer. I feel less shame in my body because I am not hiding from the world anymore. I wanted to show my face, and I dreamed of it being Wolfgang Tillmans who took the portrait."

The first single from the album is "More Pressure" which features Kevin Abstract and is one of the clubbier creations Kae has released. "Rick Rubin played The Book of Traps and Lessons to Brockhampton when they were in with him at his Shangri-La studio in Malibu, I got a beautiful message from one of the members saying what an experience it had been to hear it that way, so there was commonality there, and I felt some kinship," Kae says. "It was actually Rick that suggested I reach out to Kevin Abstract when we were looking for an artist to feature on 'More Pressure,' and Kevin was up for it, which made me so happy. I think Rick's presence can be felt across this album. Although lockdown meant we couldn't get over to the states to work with him in his studio, his influence on Dan and I over the last few years has been profound, and I think this album is a built on everything we learned making the last one."

Check out "More Pressure" and The Line is a Curve's artwork and tracklist below.

Tracklist:
1. “Priority Boredom”
2. “I Saw Light” with Grian Chatten
3. “Nothing To Prove”
4. “No Prizes” with Lianne La Havas
5. “Salt Coast”
6. “Don’t You Ever”
7. “These Are The Days”
8. “Smoking” with Confucius MC
9. “Water In The Rain”
10. “Move”
11. “More Pressure” with Kevin Abstract
12. “Grace”