Gallant has announced his third album, Zinc., will release Sept. 27, via Mom + Pop Music.
The Columbia, Maryland, native worked closely with producer Ariza on his first full-length album in five years.
“I saw Zinc. as the album I’d make if I had the chance to follow up my first record Ology again,” says Gallant. “It’s a fresh start without confusion and the pressures of being part of a big machine.”
He continues, “When I started writing it, I had no label or large team. I met Ariza, and the process mirrored how I did Ology with Stint. All that mattered was if a song spoke to me and if it reflected all of the weird things that make up who I am as a fan and as a person. I entertained myself and got a lot off my chest. I stuck to my guns and created an unfettered body of work that feels like me.”
The 12-track album will feature a collaboration with English singer Nao, who will appear on “Centrigrade.”
Gallant pairs his new album announcement with the second single, “Fly On the Wall. (Osaka Version),” which he produced with Lophiile and Ariza. The emotive acoustic guitar is accompanied by brisk drums as he contemplates a rift in a relationship.
“When I was drunk on false power / Who was I to blame you for how I’m losing grip? / Falling deeper and deeper in a bottomless pit / You put up your defenses, bit your tongue and bullets,” he sings.
Speaking on “Fly On the Wall.,” Gallant notes, “It came together as an honest and visceral story I’d been trying to write for a long time. It’s focused on the lyrics. The chorus reminded me of saying something I regretted in the heat of the moment during an argument.”
“Fly On the Wall.” is the follow-up to the album’s lead single, “Coldstar.” Gallant previously shared the story behind making the latter track in a statement.
“I kept thinking about when I used to feel down a lot, how I would wrestle with this persistent feeling of ‘wanting to go home when I’m already there.’ We had both been listening to a bunch of old video game soundtracks from 1999, and Stint ended up finding this synth sound that reminded me of something you’d hear in the water level of some Sega Dreamcast platformer.”
He continued, “Immediately, it all felt like a distant, core memory that I eagerly wanted to return to — and the whole song pretty much just spontaneously materialized after that. Now whenever I listen back to ‘Coldstar.’, I get to live in that wishful space for just a couple of minutes. Hopefully, it has the same effect on you when you press ‘play.’”
As indicated above, Zinc. is Gallant’s first album since 2019’s Sweet Insomnia, released on Warner Records. The album included the title track featuring 6LACK and the Sabrina Claudio-assisted “Compromise.”
Following Sweet Insomnia, Gallant, who parted ways from Warner Records, returned in 2021 with his EP Neptune. The eight-track set featured Brandy (“Dynamite“), Arin Ray (“Third Eye Blind”), and VanJess (“No More Tries”). Neptune was ranked No. 3 on Rated R&B’s 30 Best R&B Albums of 2021 list.
In the fall of 2023, Gallant released his joint project with musician and producer Terrace Martin, sneek. The 30-minute EP includes the lead single “311!” with Robert Glasper and Keyon Harrold.
Stream Gallant’s new song “Fly on the Wall. (Osaka Version)” below. Pre-save Zinc. here.