It all started with a word-of-the-day email. Harpist Brandee Younger, bassist-producer Rashaan Carter, and drummer Allan Mednard were on tour when the word gadabout—a carefree pleasure-seeker always in motion—arrived in their inboxes. It quickly became the mantra of their travels, capturing not only the energy of the road, but their broader creative mission: chasing joy through music, food, art, and experience.
That spirit animates Younger’s deeply personal and exploratory new album, Gadabout Season, out June 13, 2025, via Impulse! Records. A Grammy-nominated, NAACP Image Award-winning harpist known for blending jazz, R&B, and hip-hop into her distinctive sound, Younger turns inward on this release. With most tracks written or co-written by her, Gadabout Season is her most revealing work to date—an album shaped by personal challenges, creative rebirth, and a slow, intentional recording process.
“This album reflects the journey,” says Younger, “the search for meaning and beauty amid life’s most complex moments, ultimately emerging with a deeper sense of self.”
Much of that journey unfolded in a cabin in upstate New York, where Younger began writing in solitude before collaborating with Carter and Mednard. Together, they shaped the album in Younger’s Harlem apartment, with Carter engineering and producing from a makeshift home studio. Instead of rushing through a typical studio session, they recorded over several months, letting the music evolve organically.
The results are rich, layered, and emotionally resonant. The title track, “Gadabout Season,” is a playful and inventive blend of harp, vibraphone (Joel Ross), and percussion (Makaya McCraven), with clarinet lines from Shabaka giving the track a whimsical but grounded energy. It reflects what Younger calls her “external personality”—a public-facing joy that often masks deeper reflection.
Other tracks are more introspective. “Surrender,” written for pianist and longtime collaborator Courtney Bryan, channels church music and Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols to explore themes of spiritual release. “BBL” is unapologetically confrontational—a piece Younger describes as a musical argument that pulls no punches. And “Discernment,” featuring saxophonist Josh Johnson, evokes a dreamy soulscape wrapped in dub and psychedelic textures.
The album also showcases the profound influence of Alice Coltrane—not through direct homage, but through spirit. Younger, now the custodian of Coltrane’s restored harp, plays it throughout the album. It took time, she admits, to truly make the instrument her own. “It had to become my own,” she says. “This was not my first time playing the harp, but as this new music was unique to me, I had to become one with it at home.”
There’s also a quiet brilliance in the trio’s synergy—decades of collaboration manifesting in intuitive interplay and shared vision. Carter describes the album’s sound as an Afrofuturist sonic palette, and indeed, Gadabout Season blends tradition and experimentation in thrilling ways.
“When you take a step back and look at what was and what is now,” Younger reflects, “it’s really kind of beautiful.”
With Gadabout Season, Brandee Younger not only expands her own artistic voice but adds a vital new chapter to the Impulse! legacy—an album that reminds us that even in life’s heaviest moments, joy is worth chasing.
Brandee Younger – Gadabout Season
Impulse! Records | Release Date: June 13, 2025
Featuring Joel Ross, Makaya McCraven, Shabaka, Courtney Bryan, Josh Johnson, and more
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