After years of anticipation from myself (and many others), it looks as though The Foreign Exchange will finally be dropping a follow-up to their critically acclaimed album "Connected". For those who don't know, FE is a side project from North Carolina emcee Phonte (of Little Brother) and Netherlands producer Nicolay. The two initially linked up through communicating on the Okayplayer boards back in 2003 and quickly began trading vocals and beats through instant messages & emails. The two found that they had great chemistry and soon had recorded an entire album's worth of material without ever meeting face to face. And the rest as they say, is history. The two then released "Connected" under the aptly titled moniker Foreign Exchange in August 2004. And although the record was widely ignored by the mainstream, it was extremely well received by critics & underground fans. The unique mix of laid back, jazz infused Nicolay production with Phonte's average joe, love troubled rhymes meshes perfectly and creates an extremely relaxing listening experience. As if you couldn't already tell, I am a huge fan of the album and really hope that this second joint can recreate that same magic as the debut.
The new album is titled "Leave It All Behind" and will be released on October 7th digitally and October 14th in stores worldwide. Since the release of "Connected", Nicolay has moved to the U.S. and actually now lives in Phonte's home state of North Carolina. According to their label, the album's sound is much darker than the first go-round and will feature Phonte yet again putting both his rhyming and singing talents to use while Nicolay has "extended his musical palette" to include elements of house, jazz, & downtempo genres into the album. "Leave It All Behind" will also feature returning guest appearances from Darien Brockington, Yahzarah and other members from the Justus League. The first single is titled "Daykeeper" and you can check it out, along with the cover art + official tracklist below...
The Foreign Exchange - Daykeeper
THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE - LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND
01 Daykeeper
02 Take Off The Blues
03 All Or Nothing/Coming Home To You
04 I Wanna Know
05 House Of Cards
06 Sweeter Than You
07 Valediction
08 If She Breaks Your Heart
09 If This Is Love
10 Something To Behold
11 Leave It All Behind
