Settling in Chicago in the late 1980s, Damon Locks became one of the city’s leading creative lights over the following decades, developing and encouraging the emergence of a wide variety of projects from music to visual arts and pedagogy. By founding Black Monument Ensemble, Locks’s aim was to place a group of singers at the heart of his music that incorporates his compositional ideas and establishes a place where the voices of the Black community can be heard. With the involvement of musicians like Angel Bat Dawid, BME has been one of the major forces behind the stunning international success of International Anthem. NOW (2021) is his latest album, offering more of his fine-tuned, unadulterated sound.