Toronto musician Mustafa has dropped off a new single, titled “Name Of God,” marking the artist’s first solo release since his highly-acclaimed debut EP, When Smoke Rises, in 2021. The single, which was produced by Aaron Dessner, Simon Hessman and Mustafa himself, offers the first sample of what to expect from his forthcoming debut album.
“Name of God” arrives alongside a vivid music video, directed by Mustafa. Per a release, the visual offers “an examination of his relationship with Islam,” referencing the fall of Sudan and remembering his brother Mohamed, who died this summer.
In tandem with the track’s release, Mustafa put out the following statement:
I never felt like the Nubian prince my father seen in me through his tinted lens. I try their dance, their prayer- I always fall short.
& Gods name wasn’t always related to beauty for me, but to hopelessness, this Islam we share and Allah we call for while witnessing a constant violence that continues to bind us, I don’t think I ever felt completely Muslim among other Muslims,
All these sub-beliefs like borders. My aunts in all their wisdom and narrowness-one Sufi spinning into remembrance, one refuting the taking of a photograph.
When my big brother was killed in what will always feel like yesterday, knowing the suspected murderer was someone he held as a friend, someone he prayed with- it led me to believe that maybe his love was his end? Maybe where there is no love, parting from love keeps us alive? Maybe ending in love is the only way to actually begin? I don’t know.
The only clear memory from the days of his death were my parents reciting in unison, “oh Allah, we accept his passing, we accept what you ordained.”
I’m desperate to love God like them.
Our faith and our hearts are too often our demise- I know a field of young n***** dreaming that can testify to this. For better or worse we’ll uncover every bone beneath our hollow laughter, our confused affection; maybe its revealed in our final gasp for meaning.
Until then.
Bismillah, In the Name of God, 10.17.23
Listen to Mustafa’s new track, “Name of God,” above.
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