Today, Hanni El Khatib announces his new album Flight. Out May 15th via Innovative Leisure, the album is the artist’s fifth full-length and the most complete embodiment of who he is as an artist. Produced by Leon Michels (El Michels Affair, Travis Scott, Mark Ronson, Lana Del Rey), the album is a record both dense and intricate yet direct and spontaneous. It is garage rock, it is hip-hop, it is soul, it is blues, it is psychedelic, but more than anything, Flight is a brilliant Hanni El Khatib record that taps into the adolescent spirit of creation that first stirred him to make songs in the first place.
Hanni El Khatib is also sharing a new song and video. “ALIVE” is a levitative groove with a narcotic jazz piano riff built atop a bruised but euphoric vocal that states “I can’t believe I survived.” The track is the second taste of the album following “STRESSY,” which came with a Daniel Pappas-directed video.
Speaking on the inspiration behind “ALIVE,” Hanni says: “Last April I was in a pretty serious car accident. Our vehicle was rear ended at high speed leaving the car crumpled up and flipped over. Miraculously we were all able to have come out relatively unscathed with only a few minor injuries. It was definitely a close call. Even the paramedics and police officers on site were in shock that we were all standing there given the severity of the crash. The whole experience gave me some some much needed perspective on life. I knew I wanted to touch on that somehow on this record. When the instrumental came together for the track it immediately felt like the perfect backdrop for this story.”
Flight follows 2017’s Savage Times and his releases with Frank Leone (“Solid Gold” and “Crown”), his song with LA disco-not-disco duo De Lux (“Power Struggle), two songs with first-generation Mexican-American singer/songwriter Rudy De Anda (“Plastered Beach” and “Jealous Guy”), and LA duo Pinky Pinky’s raw and exhilarating debut album Turkey Dinner, which El Khatib co-produced.