Angel Bat Dawids International Anthem debutThe Oracleintroduced her multifaceted voice to the world. The response to its modest, initial cassette/digital release in January of 2019 was immediate, and immense. Within a month of its announcement, Dawid was being featured on magazine covers and receiving offers from international festivals; and her subsequent activity marked the beginning of an epic run of creative output (including her critically-lauded 2020LIVEalbum withTha Brothahood, the same year’s EPTransition East, 2021’sHush Harbor Mixtape Vol. 1 Doxology, and the sprawling opusRequiem for Jazz, released in 2023) that continues through the present moment (hear:Journey to Nabta Playa, her recently-released collaboration withNaima Nefertari).

The collection of compositions onThe Oraclepresent a deep blend of powerful and emotive songs alongside heavy and free improvisation. In true DIY fashion, with pure presence and a spirit of creative abandon, Dawid recorded and mixed the album using only her cell phone, entirely.“Angel’s fieldnote approach affirms that the everyday remains a legitimate site of creative production,”says percussionist, collaborator, and IARC labelmateAsher Gamedzein his liner notes for the album’s IA11 Edition.

Gamedze the only other musician to appear onThe Oraclebesides Dawid, who constructed most of the album’s tracks by layering, overdubbing, and arranging lo-fi symphonies of her own voice, wind instruments, percussions, and keyboards waxes extensively about Dawid’s significance in his notes, calling her“a living exemplar and extension of the spacious sonic horizons opened by the likes of the AACM and their refusal of any limitations on their creative vision and the destruction of the demarcation between composer and improviser.”

RevisitingThe Oracle, it’s abundantly clear that it was Dawids artistic vision and compositional skill that pushed the scope of her explorations so far. Its how, despite their sonic contrast, the layered delay-drenched clarinet improvisations of Black Family or Impepho sit nicely with the unadorned fly-on-the-wall majesty of London or the nearly sidelong freedom of Capetown (which documents her first-time meeting with Gamedze, at his home in South Africa). The laid-back minor key gospel-folk of Dawids vocal tunes tieThe Oracletogether and sit similarly comfortable within the sides of the record.

The IA11 Edition vinyl LP features our IARC 2025 obi strip, plus a new 8-page 11×11″ insert booklet with unpublished photos and new liner notes by Asher Gamedze.

Format / LP
Released /09/12/2025
Catalogue / ILAM-23A
Barcode / 634457219359
Artist /Angel Bat Dawid
Label /International Antem
Genre /Jazz